The Cleveland Guardians are on the brink of staging another celebration.
After clinching a playoff berth Thursday, the Guardians (90-65) reduced their magic number to one to clinch the American League Central title on Friday.
They can win the division crown Saturday with a Kansas City Royals loss or by earning another road victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
“You work every day to get into situations like this,” Guardians outfielder Lane Thomas told Bally Sports Cleveland. “I know the guys in this clubhouse like to work, and I think we’ll keep working until we get to where we want to be.”
Now they can win the division title and just about cement a bye in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
“We’ve been doing it all year, one game at a time,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “We play our ball; we’re a tough team to beat.”
Left-hander Matthew Boyd (2-1, 2.52 ERA) will continue his comeback from Tommy John surgery Saturday. He allowed just one earned run in five of his first six starts since signing with the Guardians as a free agent in the midseason and then completing his rehab work.
Boyd encountered trouble in his most recent outing, however, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks in 2 2/3 inning in a win against the Minnesota Twins on Monday. He struck out five of the eight batters he retired.
He is 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two career outings against the Cardinals.
The Cardinals (77-77) ran out of mathematical life Friday. They were eliminated from the National League wild-card race after their 5-1 loss to the Guardians.
On Saturday, St. Louis will start Miles Mikolas (8-11, 5.49), who has struggled in the latter part of the season. He was 0-2 with a 6.39 ERA in five August starts, then he allowed 12 runs (nine earned) on 16 hits in just six innings in his first two starts this month.
He was somewhat better in his most recent start against the Toronto Blue Jays last Sunday. He allowed two runs on three hits in five innings in a game the Cardinals eventually lost 3-2.
Mikolas doesn’t like his team’s trend of losing close games this year.
“It’s Jon Bon Jovi ‘Livin’ on the Edge,'” Mikolas said. “It’s a fickle place to be. It’s rough walking the line on the razor’s edge there. It does make for some exciting games. I think if you asked a lot of people, we’d rather have some more blowouts in our favor.
“It’s a (Cardinals) lineup that can, for sure, put good swings on the ball and put a hurting on opposing pitchers. I think that’s something that we’ll start to do the end of this year and, hopefully, into next year as some of these young guys get more comfortable and the veterans get back into the swing of things.”
Mikolas lost his only career start against the Guardians while allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings. That was 10 years ago — Aug. 2. 2014 — when he was a member of the Texas Rangers.
