Looking At Cavs-Raptors Matchup

The long 82 game grind is over and the start of the NBA playoffs start this weekend with the Cavaliers taking on Toronto in a best-of-seven series with the Cavs having the home court advantage. Cleveland finished the regular season with 52 wins, six more than their first round opponent.

The teams played three times in the regular season with the Raptors winning all of them but those contests were all played before Thanksgiving and Kenny Atkinson’s roster is much different now.

The first game, played on Halloween was at Rocket Arena, a 112-101 Toronto win, and Atkinson started two players who aren’t even on the roster right now in De’Andre Hunter and Lonzo Ball. R.J. Barrett, Brandon Ingram, and Jamison Battle all scored 20 for Toronto, and Scottie Barnes had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The second game, also in Cleveland, was a 126-113 Raptors win. Donovan Mitchell scored 31 for the wine and gold, but Barnes had 28, Immanuel Quickley had 25, and Jacob Poeltl scored 20. Reserve big man Sandro Mamukelashvilli scored 13 off the bench.

The last game was a 110-99 in Canada and Ingram shredded the Cavs with 37 points with Barnes adding 18. The Cavs started Ball and Larry Nance Jr., in that game as Jarrett Allen was out.

In total, Allen has played 20 minutes against the Raptors this year, and all three games were before Koby Altman remade the roster with the deadline trades for James Harden, Keon Ellis, and Dennis Schroder.

We know the Cavaliers can score, the old coach in us worries about the defense, particularly the potential matchup problems Ingram and Barnes can present. Both are long, athletic players, the type the Cavaliers have had problems with over the last few years.

The plan should be to use Evan Mobley on Barnes and Dean Wade on Ingram, both very good defensive players. The concern with Wade is when will an opponent play him off the floor in these playoffs, because Wade seems to not want to shoot, and opponents could use the man supposedly assigned to him to start doubling on to either Mitchell or Harden.

Quickley is the Raptors’ chief three-point shooter, but he has a hamstring injury, so how much he can contribute is in doubt.

The Raptors’ are in the bottom five in the league in three-point attempts, which defending those shots is a weakness for the Cavs. That’s a good thing.

We also can’t overlook the reputation for having a lack of toughness Cleveland has garnered over the past few years. We do think Altman addressed this by getting Schroder, who is an irritating player (that’s a compliment) and also because of Jaylon Tyson, who is a tough defender, who also can shoot the ball.

But we need to see Allen and Mobley respond the first time an opponent knocks a Cleveland player to the floor. That’s not saying dirty play, it is saying they need to get mad and play with an edge.

We will see how this plays out over this playoff season.

As for this series, Cleveland has the best two players on the floor in Mitchell and Harden. They also have two inside scorers in Mobley and Allen, who Harden can get the ball to inside. We talk about the Cavs’ lack of size inside, but outside of Poeltl, the Raptors don’t have much either.

A first-round loss would be a disaster for the Cavs, but we don’t see that happening. We also don’t think it will be a cake walk because of Ingram and Barnes.

Some Promising Signs For Guardians’ Offense

During Saturday night’s Cleveland Guardians’ game, it was speculated late in the telecast if their was any frustration building for the Guards because they were getting a lot of baserunners, but not many of them crossed home plate.

We understand this could cause the hitters to put pressure on themselves to come through with men in scoring position, but hopefully the offense doesn’t change the approach we have seen recently.

We are a big proponent of drawing walks. It’s an overlooked skill by many baseball fans, but when we are asked why we like bases on balls, the answer is simple: It’s better than making an out.

It hasn’t translated yet in terms of runs scored, that’s for sure. Cleveland still ranks third from the bottom in the American League in runs scored. However, they have moved up to 10th in batting average from 14th a year ago, and they are also 10th in on base percentage. They were dead last in 2025.

That’s progress.

It’s also early.

Guardians’ hitters seem to be working counts better, fouling off pitches, and driving up pitch counts this season, save for the opening series against Seattle. And this approach will pay dividends as the season goes on, getting into opponents’ bullpens earlier.

Right now, Steven Vogt’s squad has several hitters with solid strikeout to walk ratios. Brayan Rocchio has actually walked more than he has fanned, with ninr bases on balls vs. six whiffs. It’s why he has a .344 on base percentage despite hitting .200

The usual reliables, Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, are about even in the K/BB ratio. And we liked rookie Chase DeLauter’s ratio in the minors, and so far it has translated to the bigs, as he has taken seven free passes against 10 punchouts.

Another rookie with the same type of profile in the minors, Juan Brito, has drawn a couple of walks in his 20 plate appearances with only five whiffs.

And speaking of striking out, Cleveland hitters have the third fewest in the AL thus far, another good thing.

Something else positive? The Guardians are sixth in the league in home runs to date. Last year, they were 13th. Outside of DeLauter’s opening salvo in the power department, this has been accomplished without the big bats supplying the pop. Ramirez has two homers. Kyle Manzardo, who was second on the team a year ago with 27 dingers, has just one.

Free agent signee Rhys Hoskins only has one.

We haven’t even mentioned Angel Martinez, who is 15 for 47 with five extra base hits. And so far, he’s hitting from both sides of the plate.

Last season, the Guardians’ anemic attack not only didn’t hit homers, they also didn’t get extra base hits either, ranking 12th in doubles. This year? They are currently second. DeLauter has nine extra base knocks, with Ramirez, Hoskins and Daniel Schneemann contributing six each.

As we said before, it is way too early for conclusions, but these are good signs for the Guardians’ ability to score runs. Hopefully, these trends continue because as we always say, you have to score runs to get into the post-season.

Browns Need A Lot Of Help In Draft. Do They Have The Right Formula For Picking?

The NFL Draft is now less than three weeks away and as we do in northeast Ohio, there is obsession about who the Cleveland Browns will take in the selection process, but particularly what they will do with their two picks in the first round.

The draft obsessed fans and media alike would surely love a trade down because more picks!!! And to be fair, it would make sense if the organization really liked someone and were sure said player would be available say four or five picks later.

But, you can’t mess that up.

As stated before, we have no confidence in anything that happens in Berea, so until proven otherwise, we will assume whatever they do probably won’t work or will be done with the idea of winning three years from now.

Yes, we know last year’s draft looks to be very good, but time will tell, and if a baseball player hit .220 four years in a row, then hit .300 in a season, what would you predict he will hit next season?

The logical needs for the Browns would seem to be wide receiver and offensive line, but the Cleveland Browns are also a bad football team. They’ve won eight games over the last two seasons. To say if they only had a couple of good pass catchers and two solid offensive linemen, they would be Super Bowl contenders would seem insane.

What we are trying to say here is the Browns need talent, another draft like last year, where they bring in say, four quality starters (Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger, Quinshon Judkins, and Harold Fannin Jr.) would be a good start to getting better.

We know the Browns have the best defensive player in the NFL in Myles Garrett (no, we don’t care if he skips OTAs), but if you can get a player like David Bailey, DE from Texas Tech, to pair with Garrett, it is something to think about.

Remember what former Browns (when they were good) executive Ernie Accorsi said. The two most important players on the field are quarterback and the guy who can get to the quarterback. Having a pair of edge rushers to terrorize opposing passers wouldn’t be the worst thing.

We also know the analytics people say not to draft a running back high, but let’s say you added Jim Brown to the Browns, you don’t think he would make a huge impact?

We aren’t saying Jeremiyah Love from Notre Dame is the next Jim Brown, the greatest of them all, but let’s face it, the Cleveland offense struggles to score 17 points, so adding someone who will touch the ball 15-20 times per game is a bad thing?

A tandem of Love and Judkins would seem to work, no?

Getting a franchise left tackle would be a great get and so would a reliable wide receiver to help out Shedeur Sanders. Unfortunately, the problem is the people in charge who make the picks. Maybe GM Andrew Berry has another good draft and sets the foundation for future success.

Or maybe they dump half of this year’s picks in trade for picks in 2027 under the guise of getting their “franchise QB”. You never know with the Cleveland Browns.

Cavs Strategy This Week Is Sound. Better To Be Healthy

History does repeat itself, right?

A couple of years ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers were involved in a close race for the second through eighth spots in the Eastern Conference standings. With a couple of games to go, the Cavs’ first round opponent could have been Orlando, a young team getting to the playoffs for the first time as a group, Indiana, Philadelphia, or Miami, with their famous culture.

They could have moved up to second place in the conference standing in the last couple weeks of the season, meaning possibly having home court advantage for the second round, but kind of decided they wanted to play the Magic, which indeed happened, in the first round.

At the time (and maybe still is the case), outside of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, the Cavaliers weren’t very big, and Orlando had Paolo Banchero, Franz and Mo Wagner, and Jonathan Isaac. We weren’t thrilled by Cavs’ choice to play them, even with their inexperience.

It almost came back to bite them in the rear end, when the young, long, and athletic Magic took J.B. Bickerstaff’s team to seven games, and when Orlando led the last game by ten points at halftime, it looked very much like the organization made a bad call.

But Donovan Mitchell scored 24 second half points and the Cavs rallied to advance to the conference semifinals where they lost to the eventual champion Celtics in five games.

It looks like the wine and gold are doing the same thing this year or maybe not. It’s a weird circumstance for Kenny Atkinson’s squad.

Yes, Cleveland is just a game behind the New York Knicks for third place in the conference standings, which if all of the higher seeds win would mean a second-round match up against the Celtics, rather than taking on the top seed Detroit Pistons in the semis.

The Pistons have had a great season with 57 wins to date, but the Cavs have played them tough in two matchups a few weeks ago, despite playing without Donovan Mitchell in both contests.

On the other hand, the Cavaliers are in the midst of a pair of games against the team that could very well be their first-round opponent in the Atlanta Hawks. In last night’s win, Atkinson played his usual rotation. In fact, he kind of shortened it, albeit with Tyson out.

The last two games will probably be a different story. Cleveland hasn’t been healthy all year and now isn’t an exception. Jaylon Tyson and Dean Wade, who should both be in the playoff rotation haven’t played in a couple of weeks. Allen is battling tendonitis in his knee, so some time off would benefit him. Mitchell has an ankle sprain which kept him out of Monday’s game in Memphis.

And James Harden is 37 years old and could use some time off to get ready for the playoffs.

Playing Atlanta twice a week before having to play them possibly seven times in the next two weeks, it serves the Cavs no purpose whatsoever other than to be the blandest team to ever play. Why show them anything on either side of the ball.

We are sure we will see some of the primary players in the three remaining games just to keep them in game shape but even if some people are painting this as the Cavs picking their opponent in the first two rounds, it is really more about making sure the best players are the healthiest heading into the playoffs.

Besides, when you get past the first round of the post-season, all the teams are good. The Washington Wizards aren’t getting a bye into the tournament.

After a season filled with injuries, that’s just being smart.

Never Thought We’d See It. A New Franchise Leader In Games Played

As a kid growing up a Cleveland Indians’ fan starting in 1965, we still were interested in the history of the team and the sport of baseball in general. One feature of the Streets and Smith’s Annual Baseball Magazine was the section showing the all-time leaders in certain categories.

That’s how we got to know Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson. And we wanted to know more about them.

In old Municipal Stadium in the 60’s, there was an Indians’ Hall of Fame, we believe it was down the right field line, and you could see artifacts from the franchise’s past along with players who were honored by the franchise.

We would look at all of the franchise greats and leaders in different categories, and they never changed because the teams weren’t very good for one, and no one stayed here all that long. If the Tribe had a really good player, he was likely to be moved for prospects. And that was true even before free agency took effect.

When Andre Thornton entered the all-time Top 10 for home runs, that was a big deal to us.

Then, the new era of Cleveland baseball arrived with Jacobs/Progressive Field and new names were starting to show up on the Top 10 lists, names like Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, Manny Ramirez, and Omar Vizquel took their place.

Thome and Belle and first and third respectively in homers, Thome and Ramirez are 3rd and 9th in RBI. Vizquel and Lofton are 8th and 10th in hits and are 3rd and 1st in stolen bases. The players on those great teams from 1994-2001 are littered throughout the franchise’s leaders and all of them are now in the Cleveland Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thome is enshrined in Cooperstown and Lofton and Belle should be in our opinion. Ramirez would be there as well if not for the PED issues surrounding him.

Last night, Jose Ramirez broke one club record that has stood for a long, long time, the number of games played in franchise history with 1620. The player who held the record, Terry Turner, played in last game in a Cleveland uniform in 1918, that’s 108 years ago folks.

Before Ramirez, the last players to join this list would be Jim Hegan, who last wore a Cleveland uniform in 1957. He ranks fifth. Lou Boudreau played here until 1950 is fourth, while Ken Keltner, tied for 7th, last played with the Indians in 1949.

That would be 69 years since Hegan was traded. That’s what a franchise icon Ramirez has become.

It has been discussed before, but this is just the first of many franchise records Jose Ramirez will own. Within a couple of years, he will likely be the career leader in home runs, runs batted in, and runs scored.

He is well within reach of having the most hits, doubles, and stolen bases too.

That little kid back in the ’60’s would never have imagined a player as good as Jose Ramirez spending his entire career in Cleveland.

Cavs’ Playoff Run? Your Guess Is As Good As Ours.

We were asked the other day what we thought the playoffs will hold for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who currently sit with the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference with just five games remaining.

Our answer was not a cop out, although it sounds like it was. The reply was we can see Kenny Atkinson’s squad winning the East and getting to the NBA Finals. And we can also say them losing in the first round to Atlanta, Philadelphia, or Toronto, three possible opponents in the opening round.

To be completely honest, when we look at basketball, we first think about defensive matchups. Why? Because pretty much every player in the NBA can score. That’s why they are in the league. We have watched the wine and gold over the last month and don’t see a lot of good things defensively.

They seem to play effectively on that end of the floor in spurts. The last four games, after getting beat at home by Miami, they have played well. Will they have more attention to detail in the playoffs? You would hope so.

But we can definitively say the Cavaliers will play good defense when the playoffs start in two weeks? We just don’t know.

When Koby Altman traded for James Harden, we wrote that we guess if the Cavs were going to have a ball dominant guard who doesn’t play much defense, they might as well get a bigger one, which Harden is. The veteran can stand his ground if he is taken into the post.

And what we fear most (and as always) is Cleveland’s lack of size, particularly at the wings, and the lack of size depth up front.

We know the Cavs have Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley at the #4 and #5 spots. There is no problem there. But, they only have one other big man to protect the rim, Thomas Bryant.

Many in the Cleveland hoops media will point out Dean Wade, who is an excellent wing defender. He’s also missed 18 games since the beginning of 2026 (Cavs have played 40) and hasn’t been super durable in his career.

And offensively, let’s just say he’s an unwilling participant. We feel that opponents are going to make Wade play offense in the playoffs by using his man to double on others, namely Donovan Mitchell and Harden.

If Wade does start, the Cavs will match up well in the starting lineup, going 6’3″ (Mitchell), 6’5″ (Harden), 6’9″ (Wade), 6’11” (Mobley) and 6’9″ (Allen).

After Bryant, who is the sub for Allen/Mobley, who is the next biggest Cavaliers in Atkinson’s rotation? Jaylon Tyson at 6’6″? 6’5″ Max Strus? Sam Merrill and Keon Ellis at 6’4″?

And if Wade is played off the court, Atkinson will have to put a smaller wing, although a more offensive minded one in his spot.

That a worry if the Cavs go against a team where they have wings around 6’7″ or 6’8″ like Boston. Or Toronto with Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes, both 6’8″.

Or Philadelphia with Paul George and Kelly Oubre, both 6’8″.

Strus and Tyson have some bulk. We have loved the defensive impact in the passing lanes Ellis has made, he’s amazing, but he is slightly built. And we can’t get it out of our heads watching Jaylin Brown from the Celtics bullying Ellis into the paint and shooting over him with his 3″ advantage.

Can the Cavs overcome this defensive issue? Sure, they have two great offensive players in Mitchell and Harden, capable of taking over a game. But that puts a tremendous burden on both.

That’s why the playoffs will be fascinating. We can’t wait to see how it plays out.

Happy With Four Wins, Way Too Soon For Conclusions On Guardians

Looking at the schedule for the Cleveland Guardians before the season started, since they were opening the season against a team that played in the American League Championship Series last year in Seattle, and then were taking on the two-time World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, coming back to Progressive Field at 3-4 would be great.

They went 4-3. Even better.

And we were a big critic of the off-season by the front office, not adding enough hitting, so naturally, seeing Steven Vogt’s squad getting two hit twice in the first six games make us feel justified in that criticism, correct?

Not yet. It is still way too early.

The Guards are 13th in the AL in runs scored, but a game scoring 10 runs would boost them greatly in that ranking, because it is way too soon.

We know we live in a social media society where everyone voices an instantaneous opinion, but people do need to relax. For example, the Guardians though Bo Naylor would break out offensively and so far, he is 3 for 19 and looks pretty much like the same guy we’ve seen over the past couple of years. But a 3 for 4 day, would bring his batting average up to .261. That’s how volatile stats can be at this time of the season.

Readers of this site know we are bullish on strikeout to walk ratio, and right now Kyle Manzardo has fanned 11 times with just two walks. He came to the organization with a good knowledge of the strike zone but did whiff a lot in spring training.

In watching his at bats, it is not like he is striking out on four pitches a lot. There have been several at bats where he has battled with two strikes to get back in the count by fouling off pitches and goes down on the sixth or seventh pitch.

We wish he’d put the ball in play, but all in all, it’s a solid at bat.

And because Chase DeLauter is off to a solid start (we know, an understatement), the calls for Travis Bazzana have started too. People, he’s hitting .200 to start the year in Columbus (3 for 15, with a double, triple, and four walks!). He’s had just 139 plate appearances in AAA,

First, no one can assume Bazzana will be good because DeLauter started off hot. And DeLauter will have struggles at some point too. But let the Australian get some more at bats in the minors. We have no doubt if Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio keep struggling, he will be in Cleveland soon enough.

There were some freaking out about Steven Kwan after the first couple of games. He took an 0 for 5 in the opener. Since then, he is 7 for 22.

Make no mistake, we would like to say “we told you so”, but it is way too early and as we said before they are coming home with three wins against two quality opponents. Have to be happy about that.

And even better, the Guardians will be home tomorrow and that’s always a great thing.

Folks Don’t Want To Trade Jarrett Allen Now

Ever since the Cavs drafted Evan Mobley, there have been a segment of fans, usually younger ones, who wanted to trade Jarrett Allen. The logic being you can’t have two big men that cannot shoot from outside.

Part of this is the league has gone three point happy, among fans and players alike. We watch the end of many NBA games and are convinced players can’t help themselves. They’ve been playing the same style for so many years now, it has become a reflex action to hoist a three, even if there team is ahead by say six with under two minutes to play.

The smart play would be to take a little time off the clock and get a shot with a better than 50/50 chance of going in.

Anyway, back to the Cavs and Allen. So, the hope was Mobley could develop a reliable three point shot and that would solve the problem. But after two years of being in the 37% range (the first year with limited attempts, last season he averaged taking three per game), the reigning Defensive Player of the Year has dropped to 30%.

We always figured having the two bigs could work. You can stagger their minutes, and you can also space them better. Run sets with Mobley at the high post and Allen on the opposite low post. With the three-point shooters the Cavs have we don’t think doubling the post would be a problem, nor do many teams do that anymore anyway.

Allen has had a career renaissance over the last couple of months and has been even better since the trade for James Harden at the deadline.

Since February 1st, Allen has played in 14 games (he just missed 10 in a row with tendonitis in the knee) and have averaging 20.8 points per game on 66% shooting and has grabbed over 10 rebounds per contest.

And since we have talked about the lack of size on the roster, when Allen is out of the lineup it forces more minutes for Thomas Bryant and Dean Wade has to play minutes at power forward, thus Kenny Atkinson loses his biggest wing defender.

With Harden on the roster, there has been a resurgence for both starting big men, mainly because Harden is such a tremendous passer, particularly in the pick-and-roll game, he gets Allen and Mobley the ball going downhill most of the time.

As for those fans who didn’t think it would work, we believe they only look at the offensive side of the floor. We have seen that in discussions about Darius Garland. Many fans want to look at his gaudy offensive numbers, while ignoring that he is a liability defensively.

(And yes, we know Harden isn’t a lockdown defender either, but he’s also 6’5″ and can hold his own if being posted up)

With both bigs on the floor, it allows Allen to be the rim protector and Mobley to play more on the perimeter and the Cavs will need that in the playoffs, especially if the play a team with size on the wings.

There is room for teams to play differently and still win. The defending champs, Oklahoma City, play a different style than does Boston, and the Knicks and Pistons play a very physical style of basketball. It doesn’t have to be the free-flowing shooting threes game.

For example, since Harden came aboard, Cleveland has played at a much slower pace. And if they are advancing through the playoffs, no one is going to care.

Do You Trust Anyone In Berea?

The NFL Draft is about a month away and as usual Browns’ fans are both excited and showing their undying loyalty. It’s the tanking crowd, and one radio talk show host even recently said it is becoming irresponsible for the Browns not to trade Myles Garrett because he’s making the Browns too good to get one of the top three picks in the draft.

First of all, if you trade Garrett for say four first round picks, the odds of one of those players being even close to Garrett as a player is slim. The two-time defensive player of the year is headed to Canton when his playing days are over. And since 1999, the Browns have drafted two such players.

The Browns believe and have sold their fan base on the idea that there is one way to build a winning football team. Be bad enough to get a very high draft pick, let’s say top five, and draft a franchise quarterback. It seems like that is their only plan. They are always talking about “kicking the can down the road” until the following year to see if that can happen.

Apparently, that’s how other NFL teams have done it.

Oh, no they don’t.

The current NFL champion Seattle Seahawks worst season since 2010 has been a 7-10 record in 2021. The previous champ, the Eagles, have had two four win seasons in that same time span, but after their most recent poor season, they drafted a wide receiver in the first round.

Kansas City, who has won three Super Bowls since 2019, had one terrible season since 2010, a 2-14 record in ’12, following which they drafted Eric Fisher, an offensive tackle with their first selection in the next draft.

To be fair, the Rams won in ’21 and kind of did get their QB that way. Following a 4-12 season in 2016, the drafted Jared Goff with the first overall pick, and traded him for Matthew Stafford, a former first overall pick, who led them to their Super Bowl triumph.

So surely, getting a quarterback with a top three pick guarantees success. Three of the four QBs taken first overall did make the playoffs last season (Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, and Trevor Lawrence).

On the other hand, here are quarterbacks taken in the top three from 2020 to 2024: Joe Burrow, Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Young, C.J. Stroud, Williams, Jaden Daniels, and Drake Maye.

Of those nine passers, four of them are hits, two would be considered huge mistakes, and the others it is too soon to tell. But the way the Browns’ front office talks, it would be a 100% thing and it simply is not.

Add in the Browns’ factor.

They did tank 10 years ago and did get the first overall pick in Baker Mayfield, who at the very least can be considered a serviceable NFL passer. And then they screwed it up.

They either didn’t put a good support system around him which didn’t force him to mature, or they allowed him to play hurt and/or the coaching staff or front office soured on him, and they were distracted by the shiny keys that is Deshaun Watson.

Either way, they mortgaged the future to make the ill-fated Watson deal.

We guess this is just our way of saying we don’t trust anything that comes out of 76 Lou Groza Boulevard and neither should the fans or media.

The reality is that group doesn’t know how to build a winning football team. They are just throwing crap at a wall and seeing if it will stick. Unfortunately, that’s what Cleveland football fans have gotten. Crap.

Can Guardians Get Back To October Baseball? We Just Don’t See It

The regular season starts today for most Major League Baseball teams, including the Cleveland Guardians. What will the season hold for Steven Vogt’s crew this season? Here are our thoughts:

Why they can win. Much has been discussed about the so-called “Cleveland pitching factory” and frankly it is merited. Since 2020, the Guardians have finished in the top half of the American League in ERA in all but one year (2021), and have been in the top three thrice, including the last two seasons.

The 20-7 stretch to end the season last year was in part possible because the Guardians held their opponents to under three runs per contest. They can pitch.

Gavin Williams takes the next step towards being an ace. Slade Cecconi allowed less hits than innings pitched and showed some old school traits, like pitching to weak contact. And Tanner Bibee rebounds from a bit of a tough year and pitches more like he did in his first two seasons.

The bullpen continues to be the backbone of the staff, led by fireballer Cade Smith, and bolstered by new acquisition Shawn Armstrong, while one of the new relievers, Peyton Pallette, Colin Holderman, or Connor Brogdon steps up and becomes another guy Vogt can rely on.

Offensively, Chase DeLauter is what we hoped he’d be, another solid bat in the middle of the lineup. Steven Kwan rebounds from an off year for him. Bo Naylor hits like he did in September when he hit .290 with an OPS of 872.

And of course, Jose Ramirez has another MVP type season.

And two of these players, Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio and Angel Martinez continue to progress like the front offce thinks they will.

The result is a third consecutive AL Central Division title.

Why they won’t. In the wild card era, you have to score runs to make the post-season. While there are exceptions, teams that score the most runs get to play in October. Since 2000, here is where Cleveland has ranked in runs scored in the AL: 13th, 9th, 6th, 12th, 7th, and last year 15th (last).

This year, their luck runs out. Essentially adding two hitters (DeLauter and Rhys Hoskins) to the worst run scoring team in the league doesn’t make a big difference. The team still ranks in the bottom half of the league in scoring

Vogt continues to get subpar offense out of his keystone combination, leading to rushing Travis Bazzana and Naylor is the hitter he has been throughout his career, an OPS of 670.

The starting rotation springs a leak or two due to minor injuries and the rotation depth in Columbus isn’t ready to pick up the slack. And the new additions to the bullpen show why they were available for the Guardians this winter.

What do we think will happen? Unfortunately, we believe the lack of offense finally catches up to the Guardians in 2026 and they will hover around the .500 mark and finish third in the Central Division behind the Tigers and Royals.

Continuing to depend on hitters like Arias, Schneemann, and younger hitters who don’t have a great minor league resume is an issue. We do think DeLauter will be an effective hitter and signing Hoskins helps too, but a good offense needs seven solid bats, and the Guards aren’t there.

We also are concerned about the starting pitching depth. We wish they would have signed an extra arm like Zack Littell or Lucas Giolito to start the year and soak up some innings. Not sure having to have Doug Nikhazy make around ten starts in the big leagues is something to look forward to.

We are sure the influencers won’t be happy, and we would love to be completely wrong and be celebrating October baseball later this year. But we see too many holes right now.