The Cleveland Guardians currently find themselves in a highly unusual situation for the middle of a Major League Baseball season.
They have multiple days with no games to play, even as the MLB playoffs begin on Tuesday with the Wild Card Round.
But that’s the thing — the Guardians aren’t playing in the Wild Card Round. They earned a first-round bye that takes them straight to the Divisional Series.
It’s a big benefit in that it’s one less series for Cleveland to have to win to make a run deep into October.
It is weird, though. Baseball players aren’t used to a stretch without games like this. The Guardians will have to take the right approach to make sure they stay sharp even without being on the big stage quite yet.
But soon enough, they’ll be into their own postseason action, and all eyes will be on them to see how they perform after the break.
Why Aren’t Guardians Playing Today?
The Guardians are off for the entire Wild Card Round of the MLB playoffs because they earned a first-round bye.
They won’t be back in action until the American League moves on to the Divisional Series.
How Does First-Round Bye Work?
When the league expanded to six teams in each league making the playoffs, these current rules took hold.
The top-two teams in each league get a first-round bye — specifically, the two division champions with the best record.
In this year’s American League, that was the AL East champ Tampa Bay Rays and then the AL Central champion Guardians.
Cleveland earned the 2-seed and the bye that came with it while the 3, 4, 5 and 6-seeds play in the Wild Card Round for the right to advance.
Who Do Guardians Play Next?
The Guardians have one series to watch: the Chicago White Sox at the Houston Astros.
Whoever wins that series will come to Cleveland for Game 1 of the Divisional Series.
It’s set up so that Cleveland plays the winner of the 3v6 series, while Tampa Bay gets the winner of the 4v5 series. That’s so that if both the 3- and 4-seeds win, the 1-seed plays the lower team. But it doesn’t re-seed if the 6-seed wins — they’d still play Cleveland.
Chicago is the 6-seed but had the better record than the 3-seed Astros in the regular season — who got the better seed by winning the meager AL West Division.
The Guardians could see their AL Central rival White Sox soon, or it could be the playoff-tested Astros.
When’s the Guardians’ Next Game?
The American League Divisional Series is slated to start on Saturday, Oct. 3.
Cleveland already knows that it’ll start the series at home thanks to being the better seed after the bye.
The Guardians can line up their pitchers however they’d like and attempt to start their run toward a potential World Series.
Cleveland Guardians Next Game: Who They Play, When It Is, How First-Round Bye Works