How rainout impacts Guardians' pitching plan

NEW YORK -- Add another rain postponement to Cleveland’s 2022 résumé.

Major League Baseball announced early Thursday afternoon that Game 2 of the American League Division Series between the Guardians and Yankees would be postponed until today at 1:07 p.m. ET. This marks the 13th postponement that Cleveland has dealt with this season.

“Never in my life. Never,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said with a smile, when asked if he’s ever dealt with so much rain in a single season. “And it sounds like when we get back to Ohio, it’s not perfect. I think it’s going to be OK, but we’ll be dodging some raindrops both days it looks like. Let’s play a doubleheader. We’re used to it.”

This means Guardians starter Shane Bieber will have to wait another day to make his start.

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Pitching plans for both teams are staying the same for now. Both Bieber and Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes are set to start Game 2. The originally scheduled matchup of Triston McKenzie and Luis Severino is also set for Saturday in Game 3 at Progressive Field, beginning at 7:37 p.m. ET.

There are only two things the rainout changes for the Guardians. One, it eliminates the possibility of Bieber coming back on short rest if the series gets to a Game 5. And two, it gets rid of a critical off-day for Cleveland’s bullpen.

Let’s address Bieber first. Francona said there was little chance that Bieber would have been brought back on short rest on Monday even if he started Thursday night instead of Friday afternoon.

“I think the way I worded it the other day was like if he had gone maybe two innings because of rain or something [then he could come back on Monday],” Francona said. “You don’t ever want to just say no. But I think [pitching coach Carl Willis] and I both, our thoughts were that we weren’t leaning towards that as being an option we really wanted to do just because of what [Bieber’s] been through and everything.

“Nobody wants to win more than we do, believe me. But right is right. That was off the table.”

Bieber missed most of the 2021 season due to a right shoulder injury. At the beginning of this season, he was still dealing with decreased velocity and realized he needed to make some mechanical adjustments to fix habits that had crept in, perhaps as overcompensation for his shoulder pain last year. At this point in the season, with how electric Bieber has been, the Guardians didn’t want to risk any further injury.

Now, Aaron Civale could be used on Monday in a potential Game 5 scenario. It’s safe to assume Cal Quantrill will get the ball if Game 4 is needed on Sunday, considering he’d be on regular rest after his Game 1 start in New York on Tuesday. Depending on how taxed the bullpen is after possibly working three straight games if Game 5 is needed, the relief corps could do a lot of heavy lifting. But the problem is that the bullpen may now have to pitch on four straight days.

This isn’t anything new for a Major League team. These clubs are built to play every day. However, when your best hurlers work consecutive games, eventually they need a day off. With the original setup of Games 1 and 2 each having a day off the next day, that would have allowed Cleveland to use relievers like James Karinchak or Emmanuel Clase in Games 1, 2 and 3 with ample rest under their belts. Clase didn’t get the ball in Game 1, and now the club will have to use him carefully while staring at, potentially, four straight games.

The Guardians are balancing focusing on the present, knowing they have to win at least one game to even force a contest on Sunday, while also trying to think ahead to every possible scenario that could unfold. However they get to Monday -- if they get to Monday -- will dictate what the pitching plans will be in Game 5 of the ALDS.

“We need to win a couple,” Francona said. “But we’ll see what we do the last couple of games [and] which order it would be. Some of that may be determined by how much we’ve used our bullpen.”