CLEVELAND — Randy Vogt dropped off his son for work at Progressive Field at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday.
During the commute, he interrogated his son about his emotions. Stephen Vogt’s beard has grayed throughout the year. Surely, the weight of a winner-take-all playoff game was pressing into his shoulders. Surely, the anxiety was consuming him the way it was swallowing whole every member of his family and every constituent of the Cleveland Guardians’ fan base. Surely, butterflies were spazzing in his stomach as if they had just emerged from cocoons.
Nope. Stephen Vogt wouldn’t budge. He slept great — in bed by 11 p.m., no tossing and turning, no middle-of-the-night stressing about when to summon Cade Smith or when to pinch-hit for Jhonkensy Noel. Randy carried enough nerves to make both of them melt, but Cleveland’s manager couldn’t wait to embark on a day that would either vault his club to MLB’s Final Four or send him back home to Olympia, Wash., with another week or two of golf weather remaining.
The guy who has steered the Guardians from projected mediocrity to the precipice of the World Series hasn’t changed his demeanor since he stepped foot in the team’s complex in Goodyear, Ariz., on the first day of spring training eight months ago. He’s steady, unbothered and insistent his team can exceed everyone’s expectations.
Vogt worked out at the ballpark Saturday morning and then flipped on ESPN’s College GameDay in his office. Beneath the TV, Mr. Monkey — a blue stuffed animal with a candy cane-striped shirt, red paws and a brown belt — leaned forward on a clear, plastic shelf. In 2013, Vogt took his family to the Santa Cruz Beach boardwalk. His daughter won the monkey and demanded he store it in his locker. Over the past 11 years, Mr. Monkey has followed Vogt to Oakland, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Arizona, Atlanta, back to Oakland, to Seattle and now to Progressive Field. It has survived trades, injury stints, waiver claims, slumps, a retirement and an unrelenting Cleveland winter.
On Saturday, Mr. Monkey watched him study his plan for the most critical game of his managerial career. But there was nothing different about Vogt ahead of Game 5 — just the same, consistent routine that he’s followed since this wild journey began on a chilly evening in Oakland in late March.
In that same office, Vogt and bench coach Craig Albernaz, his longtime friend, motivator and chief collaborator, gather before first pitch to FaceTime their children. They toast to another adventure with an Arctic Vibe-flavored Celsius energy drink. Albernaz texts his wife the same message: “Game time. I love you.” The routine never changes.
Like Vogt, Albernaz contends he doesn’t succumb to the pressure and emotions. With so many decisions to make — they leaned on eight pitchers to navigate through nine innings in Game 5 — there’s no time to consider the gravity of the situation and the potential consequences if they make the wrong move.
On the roster, no one resembles the coaching duo more than Smith, one of the least rookie-looking rookies who has ever gripped a fastball. His teammates regularly refer to him as a robot. Opposing hitters must consider him a nightmare. Vogt marvels at his low heartbeat.
One Guardians evaluator said Smith has operated in that methodical fashion since he first pitched professionally in 2021 in A-ball. Smith, the last player to make the Guardians’ Opening Day roster this season, wound up an essential part of a playoff series victory, thanks to that unflappable persona — well, that and the electric fastball which, with the extension from his 6-foot-5 frame, rated as the most effective pitch in the majors this season, per Statcast.
Smith appeared in all five games of the series. The more Detroit hitters saw of him, the less it seemed to help. His 12 strikeouts in the series marked a league record for a reliever in a Division Series.
Cade Smith, 96mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/JiEhz3PcR9
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 12, 2024
Not everyone can function in such a capacity, though. Not when the season is on the line. Not when one, momentous swing created enough commotion in downtown Cleveland to stir the walleye wading through Lake Erie.
Not everyone can mimic the even-keel nature of Vogt, Albernaz or Smith, especially during Game 5. Trevor Stephan and Sam Hentges, a couple of injured relievers who pitched at Yankee Stadium in the 2022 ALDS, said it’s far more nerve-wracking watching while sidelined. Tanner Bibee said he preferred to be on the mound, chomping away at his gum — a fresh piece each inning — than in the dugout, helpless, with a knot in his stomach. After he exited Game 5, Erik Sabrowski paced between the locker room, dugout and training room, experiencing what he described as “all the fun and terrifying feelings of a roller coaster.”
“I couldn’t sit still,” he said. “You don’t know what to do with yourself.”
Lane Thomas supplied the sort of moment that justifies all of that dread and torment, the sort of season-altering snapshot that replays in the minds of everyone standing inside Progressive Field or leaping off their sofa in their living room.
“Pure ecstasy,” said Steven Kwan, who totaled 11 hits in the series.
🔊 VOLUME UP 🔊
Lane Thomas got the Cleveland faithful on their feet with this homer. pic.twitter.com/YxArNgYQEa
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) October 12, 2024
Of course it was Thomas. He ignited the series with a three-run blast to the left-field bleachers and he punctuated Cleveland’s win with the grand slam to a similar destination.
On Sept. 2, Thomas hit a home run off Kansas City Royals starter Michael Wacha. The next day, he couldn’t find his name in the starting lineup. He asked Vogt for an explanation, for an assessment of his role with his new team. Vogt told him there were other hitters more deserving of at-bats against right-handed pitchers, as Thomas had struggled since the Guardians acquired him from the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline.
Thomas took it as a challenge, and he started an eight-game hitting streak the next day. He earned back his manager’s trust and became an integral part of the lineup.
His go-ahead grand slam in Game 5 forced even the most stoic members of the team into a frenzy.
As the Guardians soaked each other in champagne and Budweiser following the win, Ben Lively and Austin Hedges stormed across the clubhouse as if they were searching for the lost dog. They were looking for the iPad controlling the house music-heavy playlist. Upon Thomas’ arrival to the roster, Lively added “Rocky Top,” the famed Tennessee tune, to the daily mix to make Thomas, a native of Knoxville, feel comfortable in his new surroundings.
After Thomas’ first game with the Guardians, Hedges presented him with the team’s wrestling belt, awarded to the top performer of each win. On Saturday, as the team circled around Thomas and “Rocky Top” finally blared from the JBL PartyBox speaker, Thomas grabbed the belt. His teammates urged him to deliver a speech, but all he could muster, in a voice barely rising above normal speaking level, was: “This s— is fun.”
“He’s got a calm heartbeat through all of it,” Kwan said.
There’s a lot of that on the Guardians’ side. It’s how they survived two win-or-go-home games against a division rival, how they conquered the best starting pitcher on the planet and how a team on no one’s radar when a new manager took the reins a year ago bullied its way to the ALCS.
“You have to believe,” Vogt said. “If you don’t believe in your group, don’t even show up.”
(Top photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
