CLEVELAND — Here are a handful of Guardians thoughts as the club returns to Progressive Field after an undefeated road trip and with one month remaining until the postseason:

Kwan and DeLauter set the table

Entering Thursday’s games, the Guardians ranked third in the major leagues in on-base percentage in August. Steven Kwan led MLB with a .472 on-base percentage since July 1. Chase DeLauter ranked eighth at .400. That equates to a lot of traffic for José Ramírez, Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe, and they have delivered — at least more than Kyle Manzardo, Rhys Hoskins and David Fry did when Cleveland’s lineup limped through the bulk of summer.

Obviously, it’s critical for the Guardians to keep DeLauter healthy, but his recent absence because of lingering hamstring soreness does allow us the chance to marvel at one element of his hitting prowess. He has an uncanny ability to deal with an injury, miss some time, and then come back and act as if he’s resistant to rust.

Early in spring training, he missed nearly a week with a similar malady, and in his return, he went 2-for-2 with a home run and a double. In the ninth inning Wednesday, he emerged from the dugout, delivered a pinch-hit single and then returned to his bubble-wrapped seat on the bench as Petey Halpin pinch-ran for him. DeLauter will be the guy who doesn’t look at a Louisville Slugger for 20 years and then goes 4-for-4 in an old-timer’s pickup game.

Messick is Mr. Dependable

Parker Messick could finish in the top three in both AL Rookie of the Year and AL Cy Young Award balloting. He made his big-league debut on Aug. 20, 2025, and a year later, he is Cleveland’s most dependable starter. In his 33 career starts, he owns a 2.54 ERA, which ranks behind only Cam Schlittler, Jacob Misiorowski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chris Sale in that timeframe. That’s four aces, and Messick. Or, as his personal catcher, Austin Hedges, stressed, maybe that’s just five aces.

Messick has tallied 194 strikeouts in 194 2/3 innings. His home run rate and walk rate are excellent. He hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his past nine starts, and he has been flashing increased fastball velocity, in case you were curious about whether he would wear down as he sails to a career high in innings.

The most impressive trait, though? He never gets shelled.

Earned runs allowed in his 33 major-league starts:

Zero: four times
One: 14 times
Two: eight times
Three: three times
Four: four times
Five or more: never

Now, compare that with Gavin Williams, who has showcased ace-like qualities this season but also plants his cleat on the occasional landmine. When he doesn’t have his best stuff, it’s easy to tell. When Messick doesn’t have his best stuff, he still finds a way to gut through five or six innings and limit the damage. Williams has surrendered at least five earned runs in seven of his 27 starts this season. Messick has never authored such an outing.

And on that note, how about Joey Cantillo’s strange start Wednesday? He issued seven walks and recorded only one strikeout, but he still completed six innings and yielded only three runs (two earned). It’s probably not what longtime Detroit scribe John Lowe had in mind when he coined the “quality start” term, but it technically fits his criteria. Plus, it spared the Guardians’ exhausted bullpen and bought the offense time to mount a comeback.

If Messick does finish in the top three in Cy Young voting (or first in Rookie of the Year voting), by the way, the Guardians will earn an extra draft pick after the first round as part of MLB’s prospect promotion incentive.

The ’pen has been mightier

The best bullpen entering Thursday since Aug. 10 — Why Aug. 10? Any significance there? No, just an arbitrary choice to make a point? Got it. — belonged to the … Guardians.

The group has compiled a 1.52 ERA in 53 1/3 innings, fueled by the sport’s second-best walk rate, top strikeout rate and best strand rate (93.1 percent of runners have not scored).

This might not feel like some of the recent Guardians bullpens that have anchored playoff teams, but for the last, uh, 18 days, it has been. Erik Sabrowski has made 10 scoreless appearances in August and has issued a walk in only one of them. Hunter Gaddis (3.18) and Tim Herrin (3.28) have lowered their ERAs in recent weeks. Colin Holderman (2.25 ERA) has been the find of the year for the Guardians. Matt Festa has enjoyed his strongest stretch of the season, with one earned run in his past 13 innings. Newcomer Craig Yoho has rattled off six consecutive scoreless innings after a rocky introduction.

A manageable playoff path

Not only is the American League full of contenders with uninspiring records, but the three teams that have separated themselves from the pack — the AL East triumvirate of the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox — are positioned to face each other in October. Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, whichever teams secure the AL Central and AL West crowns and the final wild-card berth will probably battle each other.

For instance, here’s how things stand at the moment:

The No. 4 Yankees would play the No. 5 Red Sox, with the winner advancing to face the No. 1 Rays. The No. 6 Guardians would play the No. 3 AL West winner, with the winner advancing to face the No. 2 Chicago White Sox.

So, from Cleveland’s perspective, the Guardians wouldn’t have to fear an AL East team until the ALCS, thanks to MLB’s format. That’s quite the quirk/perk. Obviously, the goal is to win the division and earn a first-round bye, and to do that, the Guardians will have to prove they can sustain their recent level of play for another month. This probably isn’t the most skilled Guardians team in recent memory, but it’s certainly shaping up to be an inviting path through October.