The Cleveland Guardians entered the 2022 season as underdogs, having lost much of the core that brought them to the postseason in four of five years from 2016-20. FanGraphs had them projected as the third best-team in the AL Central, with a 7.5 percent chance to win the division and 15.2 percent to make the playoffs. At the All-Star break, the story was not too different, as they were two games back of Minnesota and up just one on the White Sox, with a 20.6 percent chance of taking the division.
Things have changed quite a bit since then, due in large part to stellar play from Cleveland since then (46-26 in that time), as well as a serious collapse from the Twins and continued disappointment for the White Sox.