Down 0-2, the Guardians won 3 straight elimination games to take the ALDS

After dropping the first 2 games of the AL Division Series at home, the Cleveland Guardians won 3 straight elimination games to beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 and advance to the AL Championship Series.

The hole was entirely of Cleveland's making. Game 1 was a 3-0 shutout in which the Guardians managed 3 hits. Game 2 was worse in its way: Cleveland led 2-0 after the first inning, gave up 1 in the 4th and 3 in the 6th, got one back in the 8th, and lost 4-3. 2 home games, 3 runs, 7 hits.

Then the bats arrived in Chicago. Game 3: a 9-3 win built on 4 runs in the 3rd inning and 11 hits. Game 4: a 9-5 win in which Cleveland trailed early, scored 3 in the 5th, then broke it open with 6 in the 6th — 10 hits in all. Game 5: a 2-0 shutout back in Cleveland, both runs scoring in the 4th, the White Sox held to 3 hits.

Add it up: 3 runs and 7 hits in the 2 losses, 20 runs and 27 hits in the 3 wins. Over the final 3 games Cleveland outhit Chicago 27-17, so this wasn't walks and errors — the Guardians hit their way out of the deficit, then their pitchers slammed the door in the decider.

The skeptic's case is that the White Sox were running on fumes after a Wild Card round that leaned on their bullpen for 52 of 81 outs. Maybe. But a tired bullpen doesn't explain 11- and 10-hit games, and it certainly doesn't explain Game 5, when Cleveland's staff held Chicago to 3 hits in a shutout. The Guardians won the last game with pitching, not attrition.

The caveat: 5 games is 5 games. A 3-game hot streak doesn't remake an offense, and Tampa Bay's staff — which just held the Yankees to 5 runs over 3 ALDS games — is a different test. But down 0-2, on the road, facing elimination 3 games in a row, Cleveland scored 20 runs. That's the whole story.