ST. LOUIS — The Guardians won the AL Central and it didn’t matter if they won or lost their Saturday night game against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
The Central went to Cleveland when San Francisco beat the Royals, 2-1, at Kauffman Stadium as the Guardians game against the Cardinals was just getting underway.
The Guardians started Saturday with a 7 1/2 game lead over the Royals with seven games to play. The Royals held the tiebreaker in the head-to-head competition with Cleveland, but that point is moot.
The Royals are 82-73 with seven games left to play. If they won out and the Guardians lost their final seven games, the Guards would still have the better record, 90-72 to 89-73.
Cleveland started Saturday with the second best record in the AL at 90-65. If it they maintain that, or perhaps pass the Yankees for the league’s best record, they will earn a bye in the wild-card round and go straight to the ALDS.
