CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Guardians will only play 161 regular season games in 2024. The final regular season game on Sunday against the Astros was canceled due to inclement weather after a three-hour and five-minute delay.
Fans who had tickets for the regular season finale will receive an email in the near future with information on credit for the game and a special offer to attend a game for free in April 2025 (excluding the Home Opener).
“Obviously, we had our concerns over safety for our players,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “The field has taken a ton of water over the last three days, and that was really the number one thing for us. We wanted to play, but we also wanted to be smart.”
The rain interfered with Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez and his shot at a 40/40 season. The six-time All-Star will finish the season with 39 homers and 41 stolen bases, coming one home run shy of being the first player in franchise history to join the 40/40 club.
“You think about all the close calls he had and the times he was robbed,” Vogt said. “It’s still a remarkable season what he put together. He’s like, ‘Hey, I’ll do it next year.’”
Only seven players in MLB history have accomplished the milestone. The latest being Shohei Ohtani who is in a world of his own, hitting 54 homers with 59 stolen bases this season.
Ramirez will also finish his 2024 campaign with 39 doubles. Alfonso Soriano is the only player in MLB history to record 40 homers, 40 doubles, and 40 stolen bases in a single season.
“That’s the story of today,” Vogt said. “Unfortunately, Jose didn’t get to have one more shot at it, but to be the second person in the history of baseball to do what he did this year is still a pretty cool feat.”
The Guardians finished the season with a 92-69 record under first-year manager Stephen Vogt. It’s the club’s highest win total in a season since 2022 (92-70), and they finished with an American League-best 50-30 record at home.
“I don’t know,” Vogt said when asked if this season could have gone any better. “It was great. This team played so consistently throughout 161. We had our low times, we had our high times, but we stayed the course. We never wavered, we never panicked, we never changed who we were and for that, I’m super proud of our players.”
Nick Sandlin was scheduled to make his second career start as Cleveland’s opener in the regular season finale. Sandlin was set to start so Gavin Williams could experience coming out of the bullpen in case that’s his role in the postseason.
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“We had a little team get-together just to celebrate what we accomplished in the regular season,” Vogt said. “Close the book, it’s a new season starting on Tuesday.”
The Guardians are off for the next five days as they own the second seed in the AL. Tanner Bibee will pitch a sim game on Monday, with the rest of the team set to join him Tuesday-Friday for more sim games and workouts.
Cleveland will host the winner of the Wild Card series between the Astros and Tigers in the ALDS.
“We know Detroit very well, and obviously just got to know Houston,” Vogt said. “We know whoever we end up playing we’re gonna have our work cut out for us, and we’re gonna prepare. It’s an exciting field. I think all six teams have their strengths, have their weaknesses, and it’s really cool to have three AL Central teams in it. I think that’s probably one of my favorite parts.”
Game 1 of the best-of-five playoff series is on Saturday, October 5th from Progressive Field, where Cleveland is 31-22 in 53 postseason games since the ballpark opened in 1994.