Guardians 11, Royals 5: Rocchio and Bailey, Then the Central

Kansas City scored three in the first. Cleveland scored the division.

September 26, 2026 - Kansas City - Carter Jensen doubled to start the first. Bobby Witt Jr. singled him to third. Jac Caglianone doubled Witt home. Michael Massey singled Caglianone home. The Kansas City Royals had a 3-0 first at Kauffman Stadium, and they would not keep it for a full inning.

The Cleveland Guardians scored four in the second, five more later, beat Kansas City 11-5, and clinched the American League Central for a third straight season when the Chicago White Sox lost 9-6 to Colorado. Cleveland is 85-76. The White Sox are 83-78. The Guardians also locked a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed.

Partly cloudy. 74 degrees. Wind 5 mph right to left. First pitch 6:10 p.m. Attendance 24,656. The game lasted 2 hours, 41 minutes. Cleveland had 14 hits and five home runs. Kansas City had 10 hits and two errors.

"I'm really proud of this group because boy, it wasn't easy," Austin Hedges said, per MLB.com. "It never is. Just being able to celebrate with this group, to earn that bye, the division runs through Cleveland."

They were 60-65 and six games behind Chicago on the morning of August 17. They are 16-8 in September. The MLB recap said they became the first club to win a division in consecutive seasons after sitting at least six games back through 125 games in both years.

Wacha's six were not as clean as they looked

Michael Wacha (the loss, 9-10) threw 6 1/3: six hits, six runs, two earned, one walk, four strikeouts, two homers, 90 pitches. Two of those six runs were earned. The other four sat on defense and on what happened after he left.

Jo Adell scored on Nathaniel Lowe's sacrifice fly in the second. Travis Bazzana was on third when the umpire reviewed Patrick Bailey's fly to right and kept it a homer, his ninth, Bazzana scoring. 3-3, and the review did not save Kansas City. Brayan Rocchio reached. Steven Kwan tripled him home. 4-3.

Chase DeLauter homered to right-center in the third, his 16th. 5-3. Lowe's second sacrifice fly scored Bazzana in the sixth. 6-3. Rocchio's first homer, to left in the seventh, his 14th, made it 7-3. Anthony Gose and Alex Lange inherited the late innings. Lange faced five batters in the ninth and allowed four runs. Bailey hit his 10th, a solo shot to right. Rocchio hit his 15th, back-to-back, to right. Lowe singled José Ramírez and Adell home. 11-5.

Tanner Bibee (the win, 7-15) threw six innings: seven hits, three earned, one walk, six strikeouts, 94 pitches. He hit Vinnie Pasquantino with a pitch. He did not give the first-inning lead back. Shawn Armstrong threw a clean seventh. Craig Yoho allowed two in the eighth, Caglianone doubling Witt home again and Pasquantino singling Caglianone in. 7-5. Cade Smith and Slade Cecconi closed the door.

Two shortstops, two catchers, five balls over the wall

Rocchio went 3-for-4 with a double, two homers, two RBI, and three runs. Bailey went 2-for-5 with two homers and three RBI. Bazzana went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, and two runs. Kwan went 3-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and an RBI. DeLauter went 1-for-4 with a walk and a homer. Lowe drove in four without a homer: two sacrifice flies and a two-run single. Adell scored twice and stole a base.

Witt went 2-for-4 with a double, a steal, and two runs. Caglianone went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs, and two RBI, his 30th and 31st doubles of the year. Carter Jensen went 2-for-4 with two doubles and a walk. Pasquantino and Massey each drove one in. It was enough to make the eighth loud. It was not enough to make Saturday a Royals night.

Cleveland will open the AL Division Series next Saturday at Progressive Field against the White Sox or the winner of the AL West. The Guardians have now won the Central in four of the last five seasons. Saturday they did it the way they have done the last two months: they fell behind, they hit the ball over the wall, and they waited for Chicago to lose.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Cleveland at 20 team fantasy points, third on Saturday. Rocchio had 15 hitting FP. Bailey had 11. DeLauter had 7. Bibee had 14 pitching FP.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; AthX Engine daily scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*