This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Guardians’ focus can now officially switch from the regular season to the postseason, as they’ve clinched a playoff berth, the AL Central division title and the first-round bye.

We don’t have a crystal ball to know what their plans will be for the ALDS, but let’s try to answer as many questions as we can in this Guardians Inbox:

How many starters, who and in what order? -- @kwan_kenobi
Let’s go with three: Tanner Bibee, Matthew Boyd and Gavin Williams.

We will say Williams over Ben Lively, simply because Lively has experience working out of the ‘pen in the past. Maybe the Guardians don’t want to try that with Williams for the first time in the playoffs. Or maybe they will. That’s the beauty of October.

What is the status of Alex Cobb? -- @WxShaw
Cobb threw a bullpen on Monday without pain. The Guardians are probably going to have him throw a simulated game before he’d be back in Major League game activity. We’re running out of days to have him make a start in the regular season, so maybe the plan is to get him enough innings in a simulated game to be comfortable coming out of the ‘pen in October.

Do you see manager Stephen Vogt getting creative with starting pitching, instead of having a recurring rotation, considering the depth of the bullpen? -- @librarymet
Absolutely. We’ve already seen him get creative this year when he had Nick Sandlin open a game against the Royals. If the situation calls for it, he’s not afraid to mix things up. But I think the biggest thing will be having a short leash on starters. The Guardians have the best bullpen in the Majors. They won’t be afraid to use them early and often.

Any chance Steven Kwan gets activated from the IL before the regular season ends and get ABs before October baseball? How far is Kwan in his recovery process? -- @AndyMees216
The Guardians knew they needed to activate Kwan before the end of the night on Tuesday to make sure whichever player they optioned would be available to potentially be recalled for Game 1 of the ALDS. He spent the weekend doing his regular pregame routines and continued to feel OK afterwards, according to Vogt. It will be important to get Kwan a few at-bats before the postseason starts, but the team hopes that this quick break was enough to allow him to have an offensive reset.

Will Vogt bat Kyle Manzardo higher up in the lineup for protection in front of José Ramírez? -- @Baseball4E24
Well, it seems to be working so far. In just six games hitting out of the two-hole, Manzardo has two homers, including Tuesday against the Reds. The Guardians have been rotating guys through that spot all season to see who bridges the gap best from leadoff to Ramírez. So far, this setup seems to be the best. It wouldn’t be surprising to see it again in the playoffs if there’s a righty on the mound. But Vogt has been quick to go to David Fry if a lefty is in the game. So we’ll have to wait to see if Manzardo would earn an at-bat or two against a southpaw.

Will we see Tyler Freeman back up before the end of the season, or are they going to ride with Myles Straw? -- @flyingelvis440
The early guess is that Straw sticks around. It’s hard to believe they’d bring him up for the last week of the season if they didn’t envision him on a postseason roster, especially if it’s just a role for defense and speed.

What are the realistic odds that Chase DeLauter makes the postseason roster? -- @Brantleyfan23
Very low. Sure, he could make it on a postseason roster if he’s replacing an injured player (even though he wasn’t on the 40-man before the start of September). Getting that exposure like Bo Naylor did in 2022 could be beneficial for an up-and-coming prospect who the organization thinks highly of, but to use a roster spot on someone who only has 39 Minor League games under his belt this season because of repeated injuries may not make enough sense.