CLEVELAND, Ohio — For nearly two months, the Cleveland Guardians authored one of baseball’s most improbable comeback stories, erasing a 15 1/2-game deficit to capture the American League Central Division crown. But after Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Detroit in Game 1 of the wild card series, they face a stark reality: their fairytale season could end with jarring suddenness.

As Paul Hoynes poignantly observed on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast , “Terry Francona used to say ‘The season doesn’t end gently.’ It ends like a three-car crash into Dead Man’s Curve. It ends so fast and so sudden.”

That warning now looms large over a Guardians team whose remarkable resilience defined the second half of their season. Since late July, Cleveland had defied expectations, stringing together clutch vict

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