CLEVELAND -- As if there was any doubt, the Guardians announced on Wednesday that Tanner Bibee will get the ball in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Saturday at Progressive Field.

Bibee was supposed to spend his sophomore season figuring out how to take his game to the next level. That usually comes with some bumps and bruises along the way. He was supposed to have room to make some mistakes and continue to learn along the way.

Instead, Shane Bieber, the ace of the rotation, got hurt in the first week of the season. Triston McKenzie didn’t excel the way the team hoped he would. Logan Allen had some regression. Bibee had no choice but to lock in and carry the battered rotation to the finish line. And that’s exactly what he did.

“I think what we've seen with Tanner is that he's continued to make progress as a Major League pitcher,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “Some of that's now evolved into the burden of leading a pitching staff.”

That burden was heavy, especially at the beginning of the season. The 25-year-old righty got off to a slow start, owning a 4.91 ERA through his first eight starts. But in his 10th outing, getting the ball against division rival Minnesota, he suddenly locked in consistently.

Of his next 22 games to end the season, half were quality starts. The Guardians needed an innings-eater, and Bibee averaged about six innings per outing.

“It's been a great developmental year for Tanner,” Antonetti said. “I think we've seen it in the past where guys can come in and have a really good first year, and then their path either goes sideways or they go backward.”

The Guardians will face the Tigers in the ALDS after Detroit swept Houston in their AL Wild Card Series, which concluded Wednesday. Bibee faced the Tigers four times this season. Early in the year when he was struggling, he allowed four runs in four frames against them. The next three meetings were in July. In the first, he allowed four runs in seven innings with eight strikeouts. The next outing was one run on two hits in five frames. The final was two runs across six frames.

Bibee threw a simulated game against his teammates on Monday at Progressive Field with piped-in crowd noise over the PA system.

It was the last tuneup before he takes his first taste of the postseason. The best sign is that three of his best starts of the season came in his last three outings.

“He's been the guy that we've turned to more often than not this year,” Antonetti said. “He’s embraced that role, and we're excited to hand the ball to him in Game 1.”

Taxi squad provides options

There are 28 players on the active roster. By Saturday morning, that needs to be trimmed to 26 for the ALDS roster. But the Guardians aren’t limited to the players they finished the season with.

This week, Cleveland is filling its schedule with simulated games to make sure its players stay active during the bye week. They’ve invited the following players from Triple-A Columbus to get a better look as they help fill innings:

LHP Logan Allen
LHP Anthony Gose
RHP Connor Gillispie
RHP Nic Enright
RHP Triston McKenzie
LHP Doug Nikhazy
RHP Peter Strzelecki
C Bryan Lavastida
C Dom Nuñez
INF Gabriel Arias
INF Juan Brito
INF Tyler Freeman
OF Micah Pries
OF Johnathan Rodríguez

“I think part of our strength this year has been just that we've had a lot of guys contribute,” Antonetti said, “and when you get to the postseason, you have to narrow that down a little bit and you're confined by the number of pitchers that you have on the roster. So we'll have to make some very difficult choices.”