'Extremely thankful' Cobb set to make first postseason start in 11 years

DETROIT -- It’s been 11 years since Alex Cobb was in this situation.

He was 25 years old, starting for the Rays in the 2013 AL Wild Card Game at Progressive Field in just his third season in the big leagues. A few days later, he started Game 3 of the ALDS against the Red Sox on his 26th birthday. At the time, this seemed to be setting the stage for October baseball year after year.

Yet here we are in 2024. Cobb just celebrated his 37th 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 against the Tigers.

“So many optimistic seasons of you thinking you're going to get back,” Cobb said, “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 expected for the veteran right-hander to get back here. He bounced around from Tampa Bay to Baltimore to Anaheim to San Francisco, and now to Cleveland, where he finally will enjoy another playoff start. But even the lead up to this much-anticipated return was unconventional.

Wednesday will only be Cobb’s fourth start of the season, and first in over a month.

This wasn’t how he envisioned this year going. He wanted to be healthy enough to return in May with the Giants after having hip surgery last year, but then a nerve issue in his throwing shoulder pushed back his timeline. He was just about to get back into action at the end of July when a blister on his throwing hand once again pushed back his timeline.

• Guardians-Tigers ALDS Game 3 FAQ

Then out of the blue, he was traded to the Guardians, having not yet made a start in 2024. Just before school started, he had to move his family across the country and adapt to a new organization.

Cobb finished his rehab assignment in an unfamiliar farm system and finally 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 said. “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 critical for the Guardians. If they can win Games 3 and 4, they can advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2016. But if they lose one of them, the only way to move on would be defeating Tarik Skubal in Game 5 -- a task they surely would like to skip.

Cleveland could’ve gone with Gavin Williams or simply leaned on baseball’s best bullpen. But no. Cobb’s three starts in between injuries, especially when he carried a perfect game through six innings on Sept. 1, were enough to convince them he has more than enough left in the tank to get them through Game 3. That was, as long as he was healthy.

Cobb pitched in simulated games over the last few weeks to prove he could handle this moment. The Guardians cranked up piped-in crowd noise. They sent some of their best hitters to the plate. They tried to test Cobb as best as they could in this environment.

“I'm trying my hardest to show an organization that they can have trust in me, that my stuff is sharp,” Cobb said. “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 passed the test.

“He goes, ‘I'm ready,’” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “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 the same team he defeated in his first postseason start 11 years ago. He won’t be at Progressive Field, but there’s no doubt that flashbacks to his two 2013 playoff starts will run through his mind on Wednesday. And he certainly won’t take a second of this experience for granted.

“I vividly remember coming off -- after the celebration here in that Wild Card Game,” Cobb said, “just looking around and just thinking I can't wait to be back in this moment.”