CLEVELAND – It would have been too cruel, really.

But AJ Hinch thought about taking Casey Mize out to the same spot at Progressive Field he did before the ALDS last year, when he informed him he was not on the roster for that series.

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That was a hard pass for Mize, who, Hinch announced, would be starting Game 2 of the wild-card series Wednesday.

Not the most pleasant memory for him.

“We were shagging during BP (batting practice),” Mize recalled the moment last year. “In the bullpen area, there’s a fence there. It was in the Guardians’ bullpen, actually. They weren’t out there. We went in there, and AJ and Fett (pitching coach Chris Fetter) let me know I would be left off the roster. So, yeah, it was tough.”

It’s a kind of memorial site for him now. Every time he’s str

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