The Guardians will start Gavin Williams in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday, and Major League Baseball moved first pitch from 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. ET because rain was in the forecast for Northeast Ohio later in the day. The change pushes the game into the middle of the afternoon and gives Williams a shorter wait before taking the ball against the Tampa Bay Rays.
That is why the Guardians Schedule is drawing attention now. Williams has been the same pitcher through it all this month, and he said he wakes up about the same time every day and sticks to his routines even when the warmup changes between day games and night games. After throwing 210 pitches over six days in the previous series, the workload could have pointed the club in another direction, but Cleveland chose him anyway for one of the biggest starts of the season.
Williams’ recent October run explains the trust. He worked 11⅔ innings over three appearances in the American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, threw five innings in Game 2, then came back on two days’ rest to get 18 pitches in an inning out of the bullpen in Game 4. He also struck out 12 over 5⅔ innings in Game 5 as Cleveland rallied from an 0-2 deficit to advance. For the season, Williams finished with a 3.76 ERA and an AL-leading 248 strikeouts in 184⅓ innings over 32 starts.
Chris Antonetti said Williams threw a bullpen Tuesday in St. Petersburg before the club decided he would start Game 3, and that timing matters as much as the number on the schedule. Williams has been better in day games than night games, with a 2.42 ERA in 13 day starts and a 4.82 ERA in 19 night starts, so the earlier first pitch could fit both the calendar and his best work. The rain forecast, though, is about timing, not cancellation; the game is still on, but the day has been compressed around it.
There is still a wrinkle in the matchup. Griffin Jax will make his first career postseason start on seven days’ rest from his last appearance, after a lone two-inning relief outing in Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees. Kevin Cash said Jax has done a tremendous job moving into a starter routine, and Cleveland will now have to solve a pitcher they have seen only in relief on a day when the schedule itself has already changed once.
Williams said he feels good and expects to go out there Thursday, which is the only answer that really matters now. The start is set for 1 p.m. ET, the rain has already changed the day, and the rest will be decided on the field.
