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DETROIT — It’s been 11 years since Alex Cobb was on this scenario.
He was 25 years previous, beginning for the Rays within the 2013 AL Wild Card Game at Progressive Field in simply his third season within the huge leagues. A number of days later, he began Game 3 of the ALDS towards the Red Sox on his twenty sixth birthday. At the time, this appeared to be setting the stage for October baseball yr after yr.
Yet right here we're in 2024. Cobb simply celebrated his thirty seventh birthday and is gearing up to make his first postseason start in 11 years when he takes the mound in Game 3 of the ALDS towards the Tigers.
“So many optimistic seasons of you thinking you're going to get back,” Cobb stated, “I feel like the odds were in my favor at some point to get back, if I just kept putting a uniform on.”
It took longer than anticipated for the veteran right-hander to get again right here. He bounced round from Tampa Bay to Baltimore to Anaheim to San Francisco, and now to Cleveland, the place he lastly will get pleasure from one other playoff start. But even the lead up to this much-anticipated return was unconventional.
Wednesday will solely be Cobb’s fourth start of the season, and first in over a month.
This wasn’t how he envisioned this yr going. He needed to be wholesome sufficient to return in May with the Giants after having hip surgical procedure final yr, however then a nerve concern in his throwing shoulder pushed again his timeline. He was nearly to get again into motion on the finish of July when a blister on his throwing hand as soon as once more pushed again his timeline.
Then out of the blue, he was traded to the Guardians, having not but made a start in 2024. Just earlier than faculty began, he had to transfer his household throughout the nation and adapt to a brand new group.
Cobb completed his rehab project in an unfamiliar farm system and eventually made his ‘24 debut with a new team on Aug. 9. But after his next start on Aug. 14, he split his fingernail and was sidelined until Sept. 1. Once he returned yet again, he developed another blister and hasn’t pitched since.
“There’s probably nobody in this playoffs that appreciates it more than I do after being away from being in this for so long,” Cobb stated. “And then to have an organization and a coaching staff to have the trust in me to still think that I'm able to perform in my abilities to put me on the roster; so I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity.”
Game 3 is crucial for the Guardians. If they will win Games 3 and 4, they will advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2016. But in the event that they lose considered one of them, the one means to transfer on could be defeating Tarik Skubal in Game 5 — a activity they absolutely would really like to skip.
Cleveland might’ve gone with Gavin Williams or just leaned on baseball’s greatest bullpen. But no. Cobb’s three begins in between accidents, particularly when he carried an ideal sport via six innings on Sept. 1, have been sufficient to persuade them he has greater than sufficient left within the tank to get them via Game 3. That was, so long as he was wholesome.
Cobb pitched in simulated video games over the previous couple of weeks to show he might deal with this second. The Guardians cranked up piped-in crowd noise. They despatched a few of their greatest hitters to the plate. They tried to check Cobb as greatest as they may on this setting.
“I'm trying my hardest to show an organization that they can have trust in me, that my stuff is sharp,” Cobb stated. “So I was kind of living and dying on every single pitch of those two sim games to give them the confidence that I was ready.”
“He goes, ‘I'm ready,’” Guardians supervisor Stephen Vogt stated. “He's pitched for so many years. I don't think he's going to be shaken or rattled by anything.”
Cobb will get the ball in Game 3 for a similar crew he defeated in his first postseason start 11 years in the past. He gained’t be at Progressive Field, however there’s little question that flashbacks to his two 2013 playoff begins will run via his thoughts on Wednesday. And he definitely gained’t take a second of this expertise with no consideration.
“I vividly remember coming off — after the celebration here in that Wild Card Game,” Cobb stated, “just looking around and just thinking I can't wait to be back in this moment.”
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