No matter what happens over the last week of the regular season, you have to give the Cleveland Guardians and manager Stephen Vogt a lot of credit for not laying down and playing themselves right back into playoff contention.
Cleveland has won eight consecutive games and 14 of its last 15 contests to play itself back into the Wild Card and Divisional races in the American League.
A sweep of the Detroit Tigers earlier this week was so crucial in Cleveland's chances, and they did just that. Playing as the most desperate team in MLB over the last 15 days, the starting pitching has been phenomenal, and the Cleveland bats have come alive a bit as well.
Cleveland is a must-watch during the final week of the MLB regular season
The MLB regular season has just one week remaining before the playoff picture is set. Cleveland is 82-71, and sits just 2.5 games back of the Tigers for the division lead, and two games back of the final AL Wild Card.
The Guardians are finishing off a four-game set with the Minnesota Twins, which features a critical doubleheader on Saturday, and the series concludes on Sunday.
On Tuesday of next week, Cleveland opens up a three-game set with the Tigers, which is one of the biggest series left on the MLB schedule. A series that's in Cleveland, and could decide both the divisional race and the Wild Card standings.
The very last team on the Guardians' schedule is the Texas Rangers. Cleveland was nearly 16 games out of first place in early July, and has completely turned it around since then.
On July 17th, the Kansas City Royals had just passed the Guardians in the standings, and according to FanGraphs, Cleveland had just a 9.2% chance to make the playoffs.
Their playoff percentage now? 35% with just nine games remaining on the schedule.
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