CLEVELAND — Here are a handful of Guardians thoughts as the club returns to Progressive Field after an undefeated road trip and with one month remaining until the postseason:Kwan and DeLauter set the tableEntering Thursday’s games, the Guardians ranked third in the major leagues in on-base percentage in August. Steven Kwan led MLB with a .472 on-base percentage since July 1. Chase DeLauter ranked eighth at .400. That equates to a lot of traffic for José Ramírez, Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe, and they have delivered — at least more than Kyle Manzardo, Rhys Hoskins and David Fry did when Cleveland’s lineup limped through the bulk of summer.Obviously, it’s critical for the Guardians to keep DeLauter healthy, but his recent absence because of lingering hamstring soreness does allow us the chance to marvel at one element of his hitting prowess. He has an uncanny ability to deal with an injury, miss some time, and then come back and act as if he’s resistant to rust.Early in spring training, he missed nearly a week with a similar malady, and in his return, he went 2-for-2 with a home run and a double. In the ninth inning Wednesday, he emerged from the dugout, delivered a pinch-hit single and then returned to his bubble-wrapped seat on the bench as Petey Halpin pinch-ran for him. DeLauter will be the guy who doesn’t look at a Louisville Slugger for 20 years and then goes 4-for-4 in an old-timer’s pickup game.Messick is Mr. DependableParker Messick could finish in the top three in both AL Rookie of the Year and AL Cy Young Award balloting. He made his big-league debut on Aug. 20, 2025, and a year later, he is Cleveland’s most dependable starter. In his 33 career starts, he owns a 2.54 ERA, which ranks behind only Cam Schlittler, Jacob Misiorowski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chris Sale in that timeframe. That’s four aces, and Messick. Or, as his personal catcher, Austin Hedges, stressed, maybe that’s just five aces.Messick has tallied 194 strikeouts in 194 2/3 innings. His home run rate and walk rate are excellent. He hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his past nine starts, and he has been flashing increased fastball velocity, in case you were curious about whether he would wear down as he sails to a career high in innings.The most impressive trait, though? He never gets shelled.Earned runs allowed in his 33 major-league starts:Zero: four times