This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins’ Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
And funny enough, they didn’t exactly plan for things to go the way they have.
“The thinking was … we can commit to this one time through and see what effect it’s having on the bullpen and how it goes,” pitching coach Carl Willis said of the six-man rotation the Guardians have deployed this month. “It just went tremendously well, and we just kept rolling with it.”
How they proceed in October will be another story, but the Guardians got back into the postseason race this month behind their rotation. Cleveland went 17-2 from Sept. 5-24, a 19-game stretch in which their starters recorded a 1.35 ERA over 120 innings (both first in the Majors) and allowed two or fewer runs in 19 straight games.
The latter was one shy of tying the MLB record held by the 1917 White Sox (since the mound moved back to its current distance in 1893).
With 24 games in as many days from Aug. 29-Sept. 21, the Guardians pondered how to navigate the rising innings totals and workload volumes of their young group of starters. Willis, manager Stephen Vogt and team president Chris Antonetti were among those who discussed the idea of a six-man staff in late August.
To help mitigate late-season fatigue, the Guardians pivoted to a six-man staff by recalling Joey Cantillo from Triple-A Columbus on Sept. 3. If we use that date as Day 1, they led MLB with a 1.86 ERA and 38 2/3 innings pitched the first turn through the six-man.
“I think that extra day of recovery has really benefited them from a physical standpoint,” Willis said. “It’s allowed us — because of the extra day — to still work on things in a bullpen [session] with some intensity that we need to work on, knowing that they still have that extra day, either prior to or after, to recover from it.”
Take it from Cecconi, who has made 23 starts and thrown 132 innings this season. The latter is a professional career high, surpassing the 129 2/3 innings (25 starts) he threw in Double-A in 2022. Last year, he made 13 starts with Arizona, but in September pitched exclusively in relief, with six appearances between the Majors and Triple-A.
Cecconi noted that his velocity has trended up this month despite the workload, which he thinks can be attributed to the six-man. His four-seamer averaged 93.8 mph in July, 94.3 mph in August and 94.6 mph in September.
“Anytime you can get an extra day in September, it’s not a bad thing,” Cecconi said. “This is my first time really pitching as a starter into September, on this level of workload.”
Vogt has said this is the first time he can recall using a six-man, and one of his biggest takeaways has been that if it makes sense from a calendar and roster standpoint, it can be a great idea. With rosters expanding to 28 players on Sept. 1, the Guardians did not subtract from their bullpen depth to boost the rotation. And with the rotation chewing up innings, the bullpen wasn’t overly exposed. From Sept. 3-26, they threw 66 innings (second fewest in MLB).
The question becomes what the Guardians will do in the postseason. They’ll need a max of three starters in the Wild Card Series and upwards of four in the ALDS and ALCS.
While a six-man would assure they never have to use someone on short rest, they’ll want to give their top starters (such as Williams and Bibee) as many starts as possible, as appropriately as possible.
“October is such a different animal with just the intensity of the games, the meaningfulness of each and every out,” Willis said. “How do you build your bullpen? How do we select the starters and look at the schedule and the days off?
“I don’t see there [being] a reason for a six-man in a postseason setting because of how the schedule is laid out.”
That said, the fact they have six options pitching well gives them great confidence.
“It’s certainly a comfort,” Willis said, “knowing that we have six guys capable of going out and competing in the manner they’ve been competing.”
