This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins' Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here . And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEVELAND -- A historic effort by the Guardians’ bullpen last season helped carry them to the American League Central division title. This year, Cleveland is headed back to the postseason after completing an improbable late-season turnaround to punch its ticket on Saturday . But it’s been a six-man starting rotation that has paved the way.

And funny enough, they didn’t exactly plan for things to go the way they have.

“The thinking was … we can commit to this one time through and see what effect it's having on the bullpen and how it goes,” pitching coach Carl Willis said of the six-man rotation the Guardians have deployed

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