TROPICANA FIELD (St. Petersburg, Fla.) – The Guardians improbably defeated the Rays in Game 1 of the ALCS and, soon after, there was nothing short of organized chaos in the visiting clubhouse. David Guetta’s remix to the song "Love Is Gone" blared from the clubhouse speaker system.
While some Guardians players were vibing at their lockers to the upbeat music, most of the room was focused on the NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams, which was playing on multiple TVs in the clubhouse. A few players, holding their green bottles of Presidentes, stood in front of the TV to watch the end of regulation. Others sat at a small table and wolfed down their dinners following their massive 7-3 comeback win against Tampa Bay on Monday night.
Among all the moving parts in the Guardians' loud winning clubhouse, designated hitter Jo Adell was one of the reserved ones. His back turned to the mayhem behind him, Adell sat at his locker and neatly gathered together all of his belongings. Before facing the scrum of reporters directly behind him, he quickly walked to the nearest garbage can to throw out his gum.
An impressed Guardians' PR representative told Adell that that was professional. Adell’s small gesture of good etiquette stood out because so much of that Guardians clubhouse is made up of young, unproven athletes. Those young players are leaning on battle-scarred veterans like Adell, who joined the team at the Aug.
3 trade deadline, to teach them what it takes to win. It’s part of why the most important moves of the Guardians’ comeback win against the Rays were actually made two months ago. This past summer, the Guardians broke from their usual cautious trade-deadline approach and acted as aggressive buyers.
Though these weren’t the biggest of swings with the key players they acquired, it was still a much-needed change of approach that bolstered their bullpen, rotation, and lineup. All three deadline pickups — first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, right-hander Foster Griffin, and Adell — played huge roles in Monday’s win. "Those guys have been unbelievable clubhouse guys," Guardians rookie right fielder Chase DeLauter told me after their win.
"Jo, Nate, Griffin, they've all been great dudes and veteran leaders. Those are the guys we listen to, and see how they go about their business. They're super professional, whether things are going well or wrong, and I think that's a huge thing to see for the rest of the guys, including me, being younger.
See how they act. Having those guys lead us has been special. Lowe completed Cleveland’s comeback with a go-ahead, two-run single in the eighth inning Monday night.
He was traded from the Reds to the Guardians on Aug. 3, minutes before the bell sounded on the deadline. He was their final acquisition of a busy day for Cleveland, who thought it might have missed out on Lowe by taking so long to finalize a deal.
The Guardians sent young right-hander Alejando Rivera to Cincinnati in favor of Lowe’s postseason acumen. Lowe, who won a championship with the 2023 Texas Rangers, understands what it takes to go the distance. And, at 31 years old, he might not be considered a veteran by the traditional baseball definition of one, but Lowe is the second-oldest position player on the Guardians, after third baseman Jose Ramirez.
That stature has allowed him to share his wisdom in a room full of younger ballplayers. "I've competed against these guys for such a while now," Lowe said. "Whether it's knowing them from off the field or playing golf together or hanging out through friends of friends, it's such an easy group to get along with.
These guys have been great. They've been very welcoming. I feel like I've had a lane to kind of go out and teach a little bit too while I'm continuing to improve myself." In the top of the ninth inning, Adell added much-needed insurance runs on the board with a two-run double to left field that scored Ramirez and DeLauter to give Cleveland a resounding 7-3 lead.
Adell, like Lowe, was another trade-deadline acquisition for the Guardians, who sent catching prospect Jacob Cozart to the Angels in exchange for a big bat. Adell was coming off a breakout 2025 campaign for Los Angeles. He recorded a 115 OPS+ and hit 37 home runs and collected 98 RBI for the Angels last year.
Though the 27-year-old didn’t replicate those standout numbers in the first half of this season, the Guardians were still interested in Adell, believing the change of scenery would only help. Cleveland was in luck, because after the Angels fired general manager Perry Minasian in June, the arrival of interim replacement John Mozeliak helped Los Angeles actually move their attractive assets in a pivotal trade deadline for the club. The Angels found a partner in the Guardians, and Adell’s bat was soon injected into Cleveland’s lineup.
Though it had been a slow start to the postseason for Adell, he finally delivered his big hit in the ninth inning on Monday. It all came together in part because the rest of the lineup's gritty mentality has rubbed off on him. "It's made me a better ballplayer," Adell told me of the Guardians’ never-say-die attitude.
"I've taken some of the best at-bats of my career in the past two and a half months here. Just recognizing the situation and understanding that we're only one swing away, one good at-bat away from getting a pitch to handle and making something happen. It's been really gritty team baseball that I know that's what it takes to win." Griffin, who had a terrific first half for the Nationals this season before he was traded to the Guardians, didn’t have his best stuff against the Rays, but he still battled to complete four innings while only giving up two runs.
Cleveland gave up a four-player package for Griffin, who they believed would bolster its rotation beyond Gavin Wiliams, Parker Messick and Tanner Bibee. But Griffin posted a 5.19 ERA in nine regular-season starts since joining Cleveland. It was a struggle, until he came up huge for the Guardians in Game 3 of the ALDS against the White Sox.
Pitching out of the bullpen in an opener game, Griffin limited Chicago to one run and struck out seven batters over 2 ⅔ strong innings. The Guardians wouldn’t be where they are today without Griffin’s outstanding effort on the brink of elimination in Game 3, and they fully trust him to do more of the same in the ALCS against the Rays. "Foster was unbelievable after a rocky first," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
With players bonding and sticking to their usual routines in Cleveland’s postgame clubhouse, it looked like a group that had played together for several years. You would never know that so many key additions weren’t even on the Opening Day roster. It can be difficult for contenders to mesh well together and learn from each other after an influx of new faces join an already tight-knit clubhouse at the trade deadline.
The Guardians are just the latest example of how much it matters when it works.
