Guardians complete historic comeback to claim AL Central again

The Cleveland Guardians did not make it easy on themselves, and it was very easy to give up on their chances in July, but thanks to the Detroit Tigers' 4-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, the American League Central division title is theirs for the second year in a row. 

The Guardians will host the Tigers in the wild-card round starting on Tuesday. 

A historic comeback for the Guardians is now complete

At their absolute lowest point, the Guardians trailed Detroit by 15.5 games in the AL Central race back in July. 

By completely erasing that deficit and winning the division, the Guardians set the record for the largest in-season comeback in baseball history, topping a 15-game comeback previously set by the 1914 Boston Braves. 

A comeback like that is equal parts Cleveland going on a perfectly timed roll, and Detroit completely losing its magic at the worst possible time. 

It's also a stunning development because Cleveland is going to end the regular season with a negative run differential, while the Tigers outscored their opponents by more than 60 runs. 

Nothing about this seems possible or logical, but that's also one of the magical parts of baseball. 

It's even more impressive when you remember Cleveland had a stretch in late August where it lost nine out of 10 games, including a six-game losing streak. 

But since that losing streak, the Guardians put together a 23-8 run entering play on Sunday. That also included winning five of six games against the Tigers over the past two weeks. Those head-to-head games obviously played a pivotal role in Cleveland's comeback. 

Now the two teams get to meet again with significantly higher stakes. With the Guardians having the home-field advantage.