The Cleveland Guardians pulled off the improbable feat of winning consecutive games in Chicago to keep their season alive.
That has set up a decisive Game 5 in the best-of-five ALDS series against the White Sox on Saturday night in Cleveland.
The winner will advance to take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS.
The loser will go home for the winter — which could be particularly long in the baseball world with a lockout looming.
The game, as it so often does in October, could come down to pitching. Both teams will have all sorts of strategy involved with who they send to the mound.
The White Sox actually might start off more conventionally than they have all series. Sean Burke is getting the ball after a great outing as a bulk reliever earlier in the series.
The Guardians probably will start a conventional starting pitcher, too, but it could get wacky from there.
Guardians Probable Pitcher
All signs point to Gavin Williams starting ALDS Game 5 for Cleveland.
It’ll be an unusual start for Williams, though. He entered out of the bullpen for the first time in his professional career on Thursday night to get the last three outs in Game 4.
It was his regular bullpen session day, so in terms of number of pitches thrown that day, nothing is too far off. But the intensity was certainly higher for Williams to throw in the middle of an elimination game rather than just in a quiet bullpen before the game.
That means that the Guardians can’t be totally sure what they’ll get out of Williams on Saturday. He could be totally sharp, or he could be a bit off-kilter and need an earlier hook than usual.
If the Guardians have to pull Williams early, things promise to get crazy.
Guardians Pitching Plan
Game 5 of the ALDS is a classic all-hands-on-deck night at the ballpark.
With the season on the line, there’s no holding out anyone for another day. If a good pitcher has pitches in his arm, he’ll be called upon to throw them.
Orders get pretty much thrown out the window here, too.
Someone like closer Cade Smith could be called upon much earlier than the ninth inning if there’s a jam to get out of, or a top-of-the-order sequence to shut down.
Starting pitcher Tanner Bibee pitched in relief on Thursday and could do so again.
Maybe the only guy not available could be Parker Messick, who threw 65 pitches on Thursday — but you can bet Messick will be trying to convince manager Stephen Vogt that he’s able to take the mound if necessary.
The White Sox will likely follow a similar pattern after Burke, although their roster is so devoid of traditional starting pitchers that it won’t feel quite as odd.
If you’ve got an arm and a Cleveland jersey on Saturday night, you might get put into the game. The Guardians won’t go down without giving every arm they’ve got.
Guardians’ Pitchers Today Set For Wacky Plan