The Cleveland Guardians have their backs against the wall.
The one bit of good news is that they needed to win two games on the road in the ALDS and did so to advance to the ALCS — so facing a similar scenario against the Tampa Bay Rays, they have proof of concept.
The problem for the Guardians, though, is that their pitching plans are all sorts of out of whack.
Their best two starting pitchers this season were Gavin Williams and Parker Messick, but it looks like they’ll have to get through Game 6 without either on Monday night.
Who’s Pitching Game 6 for Guardians?
The Guardians released their lineup for Game 6, and it features Shawn Armstrong as the starting pitcher.
Armstrong is a reliever who has already been used as an opener in this series.
He also has strong career numbers against the guys who usually hit at the top of the Rays’ order.
Starting Armstrong is the Guardians hoping to get a clean inning, or maybe two, before going to a longer-lasting arm.
Available Bulk Pitchers
It seems like the two best bulk pitching options that the Guardians will have available are Joey Cantillo and Tanner Bibee.
Cantillo was very good following an opener late in the regular season, but he hasn’t been called on much in the playoffs.
Bibee has been asked to do even less in the postseason, so it would feel quite bold for the Guardians to call on him in this scenario.
Foster Griffin pitched 3.2 innings on Saturday, so he’s probably not available, but in an all-hands-on-deck scenario, maybe the Guards could get outs of that starting pitcher, too.
Gavin Williams, Parker Messick
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt confirmed Sunday night that Gavin Williams won’t be available on Monday.
That would line him up to start Game 7 if the Guardians can get there — and given that they need to win both to advance, don’t count on them changing this plan unless absolutely desperate.
The Guardians also won’t have Parker Messick, who started Sunday’s game.
Cade Smith
The Guardians will definitely use their closer Smith if the situation calls for it, but he won’t be as fresh as he could’ve been.
Cleveland had Smith get four outs on Sunday despite being down by two runs. He did keep the margin there, but the Guardians’ bats didn’t make it pay off.
Smith threw 22 pitches, and it’ll be tough for Cleveland to do too much with him between Games 6 and 7 — but they’ll call on him in both games if they feel they need to.
Guardians’ Available Pitcher List for ALCS Game 6 Missing Gavin Williams, Parker Messick