Guardians immediately give Yankees, Phillies no excuse by blitzing Tigers in ALDS

The Cleveland Guardians shocked the MLB world by going 92-69 and winning the AL Central division title. As if their division title wasn't shocking enough, that record was good enough to give them the No. 2 seed in the American League. This meant that not only would they be guaranteed home-field advantage in the ALDS, but that they'd be skipping the Wild Card Series altogether.

To most, earning a first-round bye sounds like a good thing. To Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker, though, earning a first-round bye isn't quite as good as it sounds.

“It’s hard to hit velocity when you haven’t seen anything in five days," Snitker said. "That’s my biggest thing. We had a team that set all these records and everything offensively, and we didn’t hit much in the postseason."

Instead of taking their NLDS losses on the chin after earning byes in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Snitker blamed the five-day layoff as the cause for Atlanta's offensive struggles in October. Yup, Snitker went as far as to say too much rest is the reason that the Braves lost instead of criticizing his own team or crediting the Phillies.

Snitker's complaints make some sense, to an extent. Baseball is a sport meant to be played every day, and not playing for a little while can be hard to rebound from. Still, the Braves played simulated games in 2023. They had every advantage in the NLDS, They had no real excuse for coming up as small as they did.

What the Guardians just did to the Detroit Tigers after a five-day layoff is proof of that.

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Guardians prove that the bye cannot be used as an excuse

The Guardians faced the tough task of trying to slow down the red-hot Detriot Tigers, who just upset the Houston Astros in the AL Wild Card Series. Thanks to their first-round bye, though, they came into this series with the advantage.

First of all, three of the five ALDS games will be played at Progressive Field. Second, since the Tigers had to go all-out to win in the Wild Card Series, instead of starting AL Cy Young favorite, Tarik Skubal, Detroit went with an opener, Tyler Holton. The Guardians took full advantage.

Holton didn't just struggle, he couldn't get an out. Part of that had to do with an error by Zach McKinstry, but he did allow two hits and walk a batter. The Tigers trailing 2-0 when they chose to put Reese Olson into the game. The first pitch that Olson threw was deposited into the seats in left field. Lane Thomas had hit a no-doubter. Before the Tigers recorded an out, it was 5-0 Guardians.

If rust was going to be a factor for the Guardians, you'd see it take place early in the game. Instead, the Guardians proved that they had no rust and scored five runs in what felt like an eye blink.

Sure, part of this success likely has to do with the fact that they were able to face an opener and not Tarik Skubal, but earning the bye allowed the Guardians to face a team that had just played in a series. It's part of the advantage Cleveland gets by having as good of a regular season as they did.

Instead of facing Sean Manaea, the Philadelphia Phillies will instead face a limited Kodai Senga making his first start since late July in their game. Instead of facing Cole Ragans or Seth Lugo, the New York Yankees will be facing Michael Wacha in their game. These two teams will be at home following their week off and will have the pitching advantage.

The Yankees and Phillies have every advantage heading into their Division Series matchups. They'll both have home-field advantage. They'll both begin the series with the pitching advantage.

If they lose, perhaps it's on them. Perhaps it's on their opponent being good. It is not, however, on the format. The format is incentivized to help the good teams. The Guardians proved that. It remains to be seen whether the Yankees and Phillies will follow suit.