CLEVELAND >> Tanner Bibee couldn’t hold back his tears. Several of his teammates sat nearby in a circle on the floor in a corner of a deathly silent clubhouse, almost afraid to move. There were long hugs, heartfelt whispers.

This isn’t the way it was supposed to end for the Guardians.

Not like this.

Their surprising season came to a sudden finish late Saturday night with a 5-2 loss in 10 innings to the New York Yankees in Game 5 of an American League Championship Series that seemed to have a little bit of everything.

The Guardians, who overachieved by winning 92 regular-season games and the AL Central title, fought their way past division rival Detroit in the ALDS — beating expected Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in the decisive game — for a shot at the Yankees with their star-studded roster and $300 million-plus payroll.

For five games, Cleveland gave New York all it could handle.

It wasn’t enough.

“They’re just a better team,” said Guardians All-Star left fielder Steven Kwan. “Because we’re so close in all those games, I think that’s what makes this sting a little more. Yeah, it was a great year. Kind of hard to be able to look back right now. It’s still so fresh. It hurts pretty bad right now.”

History will show the Yankees won in five games, but the series was tighter than that and could have flipped Cleveland’s way.

The Guardians had their chances, so many chances. They put pressure on the Yankees in every game, but couldn’t come up with big hits in key spots.

The moments were there for them to seize and they let them slip by.

The club’s World Series title drought — going back to 1948 — got another year older.

Cleveland left 47 runners on base, finishing 9 of 47 (.191) with runners in scoring position. There will be at-bats that haunt them all winter.

All season long, their aggressive style — “Guards Ball” as it became known — under first-year manager Stephen Vogt rarely materialized against the Yankees, who used their bigger bats to outslug them.