The Cleveland Guardians will only go as far Shane Bieber takes them in the playoffs

The Cleveland Guardians are going to need a healthy Shane Bieber to take the team deep into the playoffs.

The Cleveland Guardians have a great rotation and an equally great bullpen. They are loaded with electric arms, flamethrowers, and perception pitchers that terrify and stupify. They have a deep minor-league system with a lot of great hurlers waiting to be called up. None of them, however, are on the level of Shane Bieber.

Despite MLB.com ranking Bieber just 76th in the Major Leagues in terms of talent, Bieber has three seasons in four where he really could’ve won or did win the AL Cy Young Award. When healthy, he’s a 200+ strikeout per year kind of guy and is always able to hold opposing teams to some of their worst outings for the season.

Save for 2018 when he was a late call-up, and 2021 when he got hurt, Bieber has absolutely dominated teams for an entire season. Bieber has high expectations for 2023, and those expectations involve a deep playoff run. He wants to make sure the team is focused on that goal early, going on the MLB Radio Network and saying one of his jobs for this season is making sure the team is set on that path.

Beiber, however, has got to know that the team will only go as far as he takes it.

Shane Bieber is the key to a successful season

If the Guardians lose Jose Ramirez for a few weeks, that could hurt the team. If the Guards lose Bieber for four, five, or even more starts, that could cripple the team. Bieber gives the Guardians their best chance to win every five games. While guys like Triston McKenzie and Cal Quantrill are good, Bieber is building a future Hall of Fame career and has started to build a Corey Kluber-like career in Cleveland.

In 2021, the Guardians were 34-28 before Bieber got hurt, and they ended up finishing 80-82. While a starter only impacts one-fifth of the games the team plays, they end up showing their worth in slumps. When someone like Bieber takes the mound, he can snap not only his team out of a bad performance slump but also a losing streak.

They went 4-14 from June 18 to July 7, and that stretch of bad losses was enough to keep the Guards from a winning record and maybe a playoff spot. Bieber would’ve had at least four starts in that stretch. Assuming Bieber was able to muster all wins, that’s an 8-10 stretch then, and far more manageable.

They would have five more losing streaks of three or more after that, something that likely wouldn’t have happened as often had Bieber been healthy.

Not only that, the Guardians have never made the playoffs without Beiber since he joined the squad in 2018. Save for one bad start in 2020 against the Yankees, he’s shown to be a very good pitcher in the postseason.

His 2022 stats saw him give up just 3 runs in 13.1 innings while striking out 15. Bieber has got to be healthy and as consistent as ever if he’s to achieve his goal of a deep playoff run.