CLEVELAND -- Another day, another clinch for the Guardians.

First, it was a playoff berth on Thursday. Then, it was the club¡¯s 12th AL Central division title on Saturday. Now, with a 6-1 victory over the Reds on Tuesday night at Progressive Field, the Guardians have locked up a first-round bye and retained the Ohio Cup.

¡°Obviously, we worked really hard to get here,¡± Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of the first-round bye. ¡°It¡¯s just so great for these guys. They¡¯ve earned every bit of this. For them to be able to get the five days [off] next week leading up to it, for us to get really good work in, for them to get their rest, heal up, refresh, we couldn¡¯t be more thankful for this opportunity.¡±

No matter what happens between now and the final game of the regular season on Sunday, the Guardians will be able to skip the best-of-three AL Wild Card Series, thanks to having one of the two best records of the three AL division-winning clubs. Now, Cleveland (91-67) has four games left to try to make up ground on the first-seeded Yankees (92-65) to earn home-field advantage through the AL Championship Series.

? Postseason FAQ: What's next for Guardians?

So the Guardians will get some much-needed rest from Monday through Friday next week before the AL Division Series begins on Oct. 5. It¡¯s only fitting that Tanner Bibee, who will likely be getting the ball for Game 1, was the man who got them there on Tuesday with seven dominant innings.

¡°Pretty special,¡± Vogt said of Bibee. ¡°[He] wiggled his way out of trouble a couple times, and really outside of those few innings, they couldn¡¯t really get anything going. Fastball was great. Slider had a couple different shapes. Changeup and curveball [were good], as well. Tanner just seems to keep getting better and better each time out. Just been a lot of fun.¡±

This is the version of Bibee that the Guardians would want to see right before the playoffs get started. He battled his command at times, issuing two walks and hitting Jonathan India in the helmet with a pitch, but he was able to effortlessly navigate around that traffic. Aside from that, Bibee gave up one run on just four hits. Plus, his efficiency was exactly where the team would like it to be, as he threw just 88 pitches (57 strikes).

¡°I think just keeping it simple,¡± Bibee said, ¡°and kind of executing one pitch at a time I feel like just got me there.¡±

But now that it¡¯s official that the Guardians will have an extended break, a new decision needs to be made: Should Bibee bump someone else out of the rotation so he gets one more start on Sunday instead of having 10 days off?

One would think that answer will likely be yes, but Cleveland hasn¡¯t started those conversations just yet.

Bibee couldn¡¯t pitch before Sunday, so he¡¯ll likely toe the rubber one more time then. That means Gavin Williams, who would be scheduled to start that day, will either have to go a day earlier or be bumped out of the rotation. That decision comes down to who the Guardians think will be in their ALDS rotation versus which starters will move to the bullpen.

Ben Lively¡¯s turn in the rotation would be Saturday. So, will it be Williams or Lively who moves to the ¡®pen? If it¡¯s Lively, Williams can start Saturday and Bibee can start Sunday. If it¡¯s Williams, then Bibee can just get the ball Sunday. Regardless of what they go with, the Guardians are confident that they¡¯ll be able to lean on their pitching staff the rest of the way.

¡°This group has stayed steady,¡± Vogt said. ¡°And Tanner, the rest of the rotation, the bullpen, we feel really good about our pitching going into October.¡±

The playoffs are clinched. The division is clinched. The first-round bye is clinched. So the Guardians can take it easy for the next four games, right? Vogt¡¯s answer to that was simple: ¡°No.¡±

¡°We want to win,¡± Vogt said. ¡°We want to win every game. We might give guys a day or we might do something like that. But for us, it¡¯s [playing] like we have all year. We¡¯re going to play everybody and we¡¯re going to continue to work, because we have four more opportunities to get better going into the postseason.¡±