Aaron Civale’s return to the Cleveland Guardians rotation couldn’t come soon enough

The Cleveland Guardians are getting Aaron Civale back for a pivotal series against the Detroit Tigers.

The Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers are set to clash in a major series. While the Tigers are rebuilding, The Guardians are just a game out of first place in the AL Central. The team they trail, the Minnesota Twins, are taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers at the same time. The Tigers are 28th in the league in wins, and 28th in the league in winning percentage while the Dodgers are first in both.

To say the Guardians have a series that’s more conducive to a victory would be an understatement. Should things play out as expected, the Guardians should have a tie at the worst for the AL Central by the end of Thursday, if not a lead in the division.

Getting Aaron Civale back for this series is huge for that reason. While his seasonal ERA is a whopping 6.17, that’s a misnomer. It’s not an honest look at him over his last six starts. He’s only pitched six times since May 20, and in that time span, he’s posted a 3.10 ERA, showing that his early season woes were just that.

Civale isn’t a guy you can hang your hopes on to win a Cy Young, but he’s arguably a more reliable pitcher than someone like Zach Plesac at the moment.

Shane Bieber headlines the rest of the pitching matchups

Speaking of Plesac, he and Shane Bieber will toe the rubber for the good guys in the other two meetings with the Tigers. While on paper the three of them should be more than enough to handle Detroit’s lackluster offense, the fact is the Guardians are only 5-7 against ‘dem cats this year.

It’s going to be a tough out, as for whatever reason, the Tigers play the Guardians well.

A nice note, however, is that the bullpen has the third best ERA (2.12) n the Majors since July 9, according to Joe Noga of Cleveland.com. The only teams with better are Baltimore (2.09) and Toronto (2.05).