The Guardians, despite their perennially small payroll, are a team that deals in outsized superlatives—the longest World Series drought, the longest no-hitter drought, and the largest in-season comeback in baseball history.
Despite accomplishing the last of those feats this season, Cleveland's 6–3 loss in Game 3 of its wild-card series against the Tigers Thursday ensured the first will continue. The Guardians had a runner on third in the ninth inning of Game 1 trailing by one run and won Game 2—only for the wheels to come off in a Game 3 that laid out the team's litany of flaws.
