Cleveland Guardians at Colorado Rockies

With their 7-2 win over the Rockies at Coors Field on Sunday to complete a sweep of Colorado, the Guardians look dangerous. Sure, they’ve got one of the lightest-hitting lineups in the Majors and are 65-66 after winning four in a row. But they’ve got pitching, their bats have awakened this month, and their remaining opponents this regular season combine for the second-lowest win percentage of any club’s remaining opponents (.463 entering Sunday). Cleveland is also in a vastly better position in the standings now than it was on this date a year ago. With Sunday’s win, the Guards kept pace in both the American League Central standings (they’re 3 1/2 games behind the White Sox) and the AL Wild Card race (same record as the Rangers, who currently occupy the third Wild Card spot, though Texas owns the tiebreaker). On this date in 2025, the Guardians found themselves 12 1/2 games behind the division-leading Tigers before pulling off one of the most improbable late-season surges in MLB history to win the AL Central on the final day of the regular season. “I love the way we’re playing,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “Like I’ve been saying for a while, we just weren’t winning games. But I like the way we’re playing. The offense was tremendous these three days, and pitching continues to be great, and our defense has been really good as well. “So we have to keep working. We have to keep our heads down.” For the third straight game, a different hero stepped up for the Guards on Sunday. After Travis Bazzana delivered four hits and drove in three runs on Friday and Jo Adell launched a three-run homer in a two-hit performance on Saturday, Chase DeLauter took the lead in the series finale. The 24-year-old rookie, who was briefly sidelined earlier in the week with left hamstring tightness, was Cleveland’s designated hitter and reached base four times with a single, two triples, a walk and two RBIs. Much like the Guardians’ lineup overall, DeLauter has been hot at the plate in August, reaching base in 16 of 17 games and batting .348 (23-for-66). “It was a little slower start since coming back \[from the injury\