Browns Just Don’t Have It. A Culture That Is

We definitely believe that winning is a learned skill. Yes, it comes through experience, but it is also a mindset. It’s a lot like waking up in the morning and deciding if you are going to have a good day or a bad day.

Or you are an optimist or a pessimist.

We do complain about the money the Cleveland Guardians spend, but there is no question in our mind that there still is an attitude of we are going to win throughout the organization.

We all saw it this past season, when the Guards fell 15 games out of first place, and lost their closer to a suspension and still wound up winning the American League Central Division. Of course, that comes from over a decade of success, but their manager, the front office, and the players didn’t let negatives creep into their mindset.

Since Terry Francona was hired by the team in 2013, the Indians/Guardians have only missed the post-season five times and the worst season they had was a year where they lost 86 games.

There has been no tanking, no deliberate losing.

The same holds true for the Cavaliers, who won the city’s only professional sports title since 1964 in 2016. Yes, they had some down years when LeBron James left via free agency, but we would guess that everyone involved with the Cavs knows owner Dan Gilbert wants to win, and they take steps to get back to that each year.

Just five seasons after James departed, the Cavaliers won 51 regular season games. Yes, the LeBron years set a foundation and expectation to win, and it continues today.

Which brings us to the Browns. From our perspective, it doesn’t appear there is a culture of winning. Now what is that? We don’t know exactly, but you can tell who has it and who doesn’t.

We have said this many times on this site, but the Browns are like the sign in the bar proclaiming free beer tomorrow. One of the area’s sports writers (Jason Lloyd) has written the Browns are great at talking about different plans to win, but they rarely are able to execute them.

The front office is stuck on having one way to be able to win, getting a franchise quarterback, and they think there is only one way to do that, and that is to get a very high draft pick.

We have detailed in past posts that there is simply no evidence to suggest that a path to success. When you look around the league, yes, you probably need to have a QB drafted in the first round to be able to win, but it’s more about recognizing talent.

We all know the Browns did have the first pick overall and drafted a QB just eight years ago in Baker Mayfield and after a few years, they convinced themselves he wasn’t the guy. How is that working out?

They saw a shiny object in the corner in Deshaun Watson and decided to move on from Mayfield and trade for him? Why, because it makes the process easier and quicker.

There isn’t an easy way to establish culture. It’s hard and sometimes painful.

We laugh at times at the “tanking crowd” because they will look at some quarterback with disdain. They want the first overall pick in the draft, but only when and if guys like Joe Burrow, Andrew Luck, or Peyton Manning are at the top.

So, the strategy is luck of the draw? If so, that’s a poor method.

Heck, the owner told everyone the hope is to find the “franchise quarterback” in 2026. What do the players think about that? It’s hard to set a winning culture when the team owner is talking about next season.

Free beer tomorrow.

That’s why new leadership is needed. Not new ownership, because no one is selling a cash cow. But someone who will set a standard of winning football games, no matter who the QB is or what else surrounds the team.

All you have to do is look two hours to the east and the rival Steelers. They have a winning culture. And guess what, they are always in the mix.

Stop making plans, stop making excuses. That’s the first step to building a culture.

Clase And Ortiz Join A Sad Tale In Professional Sports

Without a doubt, professional sports has embraced their relationship with gambling. It used to be taboo to associate the two, but now there is an incredible amount of advertising revenue associated with it.

Most people our age grew up with the pro and college football betting sheets in which you would pick a three, four, five (or perhaps more) parlay to win some cash through a “bookie”.

Heck, when we were in high school, another student passing out the “schedule” and taking wagers on the NFL.

But the leagues themselves condemned wagering, mostly because the players would have to be involved with “ne’er do wells”. We know about the Black Sox Scandal and Pete Rose, but probably less are aware that in 1963, the NFL suspended star players Paul Hornung, the ’61 league MVP and Alex Karras for betting on games.

Basketball has had point shaving scandals mostly involving college basketball, and of course the whole Tim Donaghy scandal whereas a referee, he was betting on games and making calls that influenced them.

Even though there is legal gambling now, we really don’t do it much, in fact, if we do, it is usually when we are out of town. And because we have been around sports our whole life, the prop bets are something we stay away from, because so many things can influence them.

We bring this up, of course, because of the news involving Guardians’ pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz this past week. It is very likely neither will ever play Major League Baseball again, and even if somehow, they are only suspended for a year, the organization won’t allow them to throw another pitch for Cleveland.

There is no defense for either pitcher. There is a mandatory meeting in spring training that covers gambling and although we have never been in a big-league clubhouse, it has been reported that there are signs about gambling posted.

We are sure both Clase and Ortiz felt they weren’t doing anything to alter the outcome of the games, but they are just fooling themselves. Of course, they were.

It was reported that Clase was allegedly texting his co-conspirators during games, which is also a violation of MLB rules. Reading that gave us the chills.

And we are sure there are other situations such as this being investigated in the big four professional sports. Just in the last month, you have had this and the situation involving Terry Rozier of the Miami Heat, Chauncey Billups, and former Cavalier player Damon Jones.

MLB recently asked its partners in gambling to place a limit on the amount of money wagered on these prop bets to $200. Perhaps a better solution would be to ban these types of bets in all major sports.

You can bet on the overcome of the game, but not on individual performances.

As soon as people don’t have confidence that the result in professional sports is not on the up and up, it’s the end of the popularity.

If Clase is indeed found guilty, he wasted what could have been a great career. He’s arguably the best closer in the baseball right now, leading the American League in saves three straight seasons (2022-2024) and has a career ERA of 1.88 over 360 innings and 366 appearances.

It’s time for professional sports to be proactive in getting this situation under control, and they need to do it right away.

Adding Pitching Wouldn’t Be Bad For Guards Either

The Cleveland Guardians have made a reputation over the past 10 years or so as a pitching factory. They’ve pretty much always have had solid pitching.

Since 2007, Cleveland has had five Cy Young Award winners: C.C. Sabathia (’07), Cliff Lee (’08), Corey Kluber (’14 and ’17), and Shane Bieber (’20). This list doesn’t include some guys who had excellent seasons, like Carlos Carrasco, Roberto Hernandez (Fausto Carmona), and Trevor Bauer.

For most of the 2025 season, the pitching was floundering. Tanner Bibee was inconsistent for much of the first five months of the season. Ben Lively had to have Tommy John surgery in May. Luis Ortiz was suspended.

Slade Cecconi was a pleasant surprise, making 23 starts but still had a 4.30 ERA.

Only Gavin Williams, who finished the season 12-5 with a 3.06 ERA, could be counted on to provide solid starts, and he too, had some problems, leading the American League in walks, which led to game where he could only go five innings.

In September, everything gelled. The Guardians went to a six-man rotation with Joey Cantillo, who started the season in relief joining the rotation along with rookie Parker Messick, who compiled a 2.72 ERA in seven starts.

And Bibee started to pitch like we’ve seen him in the past.

So, what about 2025. We know the Guardians’ optimists will think everything is fine, but we (like a lot of baseball people) look at track records. We feel comfortable with Williams and Bibee right now, but we think the front office should still be in the market for pitching this winter.

Cantillo was a solid prospect for a long time, but he’s made just 21 big league starts and he also has issues with the strike zone. When he throws strikes consistently, he’s tough to beat, but he doesn’t do it enough.

We had some snide comments about Cecconi when he was traded to the Guardians (after all he was the return for a guy who hit 30 HRs the year before) and when he was activated, because of a 6.66 ERA in 77 innings for the Diamondbacks in 2024, but he’s kind of an old school pitcher. He induces weak contact and doesn’t have a high K rate.

He pitched a game in Sacramento where he went seven innings of two-hit ball and people on social media were incensed because he only had two strikeouts.

As we said Messick has seven big league starts. Lively likely won’t be back until middle of the year. And although we like Cecconi, he looks like a solid middle to back of the rotation guy.

Among the top prospects, Khal Stephen, the return for Shane Bieber, pitched in AA, and Doug Nikhazy, who made a couple of token appearances with the big club, and had a 5.02 ERA in AAA, are the closest to being ready.

We would like to see the front office add another proven veteran to the mix heading into 2026.

It doesn’t need to be a front of the rotation guy, more like a veteran who can provide innings to keep the bullpen fresh early in the season. That would serve Steven Vogt very well.

And it wouldn’t hurt to have Carl Willis work with him.

Three Major Weak Spots For Guardians

In a little over a week, the Hot Stove season will start in earnest for baseball. Teams all over the sport will be looking to get better, shore up weaknesses, and even make room for hot prospects.

The Cleveland Guardians aren’t a team that generally makes big splashes in terms of acquiring talent. They made two major deals a year ago, but both were more about dealing players who were going to make big money soon (in the case of Andres Gimenez) or were going to hit free agency soon (Josh Naylor).

Despite their September run, the Guardians have a lot of holes on the roster. It has been well documented how bad their offense was, they were third worst in the sport, ahead of just Colorado and Pittsburgh, meaning they were the worst in the American League.

They were also second worst in team OPS, on base percentage, and in slugging percentage.

Where do the Guardians have to get better? If you look at WAR (wins above replacement), it is quite clear where the improvement needs to be. Cleveland had the worst centerfield play in the majors.

Who played there in 2025? Angel Martinez played 114 games, followed by Lane Thomas (38) and Nolan Jones (35). Martinez is still young (he will be 24 next season) and was very good vs. LHP, batting .279 with a 792 OPS. He’s still young enough to develop against right-handers, although he batted .197.

We would guess the Guards will move on from Thomas, who is a free agent, and Jones, who frankly just wasn’t good.

They were third worst in rightfield. Again, Jones got the bulk of the playing time there, appearing in 101 games, followed by Jhonkensy Noel with 60 games.

Noel’s struggles at the plate, mostly involving making contact, are well documented. His OPS was under 500 in 2025.

The third position where the Guardians were near the bottom, 27th in this case, was shortstop, with Gabriel Arias playing 106 games and Brayan Rocchio playing in 72 contests.

Arias received a career high in plate appearances in ’25 and his numbers were pretty much the same as before. He batted .220 (career mark .215), his on base percentage was .274 (same as career) and he slugged .363 (.356).

He has a tremendous arm, perhaps the best in the game, but let’s be truthful, he struggles going to his left. We feel Rocchio has more range by far.

So, what can the team do about these trouble spots?

We don’t know if Cleveland will deal Steven Kwan this winter, but if they don’t, shouldn’t they consider putting him in CF? He’s a great defensive outfielder, so why not put him in the most important position?

That would open up LF for players like Martinez, Juan Brito, and maybe even Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana.

With DeLauter’s injury history, it seems weird to mention him in center.

Besides RF needs shoring up as well, and we don’t want to forget George Valera there, but as we have said before, the organization cannot just depend on all young players. They still need a right-handed bat, and preferably a veteran one. A “professional hitter” as they say.

And at short, we just believe Rocchio is a better choice. We think he’s a better hitter and as noted earlier, has more range.

The 2025 Guardians don’t just need improvement at those spots, they need to not be the worst on those positions, and two of them are key defensive spots.

Upgrading at CF, RF, and SS will help make this team a lot better in 2026.

How Do Guardians Make Room For Young Players?

The Cleveland Guardians had one of the worst offenses in team history this season and fixing it should be the primary goal of the front office this winter.

There is hope on the horizon in rookies Chase DeLauter, George Valera, Juan Brito and perhaps Travis Bazzana, but depending on players who have very few, if any, big league at bats is foolhardy. Team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have to find a proven hitter, preferably a right-handed one, as the players listed hit from the left side except for Brito, a switch-hitter.

However, if those players are going to be contributors next season, obviously some of the players currently on the roster will not be back.

With Brito and Bazzana on the horizon, once again there is a logjam in the middle infield. What we would do is move Brayan Rocchio back to shortstop and end the Gabriel Arias experiment.

During broadcasts, several times there were mentions of a “breakout” year for Arias, who will be 26 next season, but frankly, we don’t see it. His OPS in 2024 was 608 and in 2025, it was 638, still well below the league average (719).

His strikeout percentage increased to 34.1% (to be fair, his walk rate also increased), but the much advertised “pop” still hasn’t shown, his slugging percentage was just .363. We don’t think he will ever provide average offense. And he’s now had over 1000 plate appearances in the big leagues.

With DeLauter and Valera seemingly ready in 2026, the outfield has to get weeded out. Lane Thomas is a free agent, and we’ve seen reports the Guardians could be interested, but unless you are bringing him in as a platoon player, we would pass.

We also aren’t interested in bringing Nolan Jones or Jhonkensy Noel back. Jones is now two years removed from his 20 home run season in 2023. He’s hit just eight since. And the team touted his hard-hit percentage, but the results just aren’t there.

The more big-league pitchers see Noel, the worse the results are. Noel simply has no feel for the strike zone, evidenced by his unreal 52:4 K/BB ratio. Heck, Valera was on the roster for a month and walked more. The big man has a sluggers’ chance, we remember the playoff HR against New York, but he’s just not a good hitter.

We would like to see more of Johnathan Rodriguez, but not in rightfield unless he can drastically improve defensively.

And then we have Austin Hedges. We know how the organization values him for his leadership and his handling of pitchers. We also find it difficult to believe there isn’t another player who can do those things and not be one of the worst hitters we have ever seen.

David Fry should be able to catch next year, but he’s more of a utility guy, someone who can hit right-handed, play corner spots and can catch in a pinch. If Steven Vogt is going to play the platoon game, the Guardians need a better partner to pair with Bo Naylor.

We do think Angel Martinez has value, at least as a platoon player (very good vs. LHP) and he’s young enough to develop from the left side. He may be better suited in the Daniel Schneemann role, a multi-positional player.

Martinez needs to be more selective at the plate and as for Schneemann, he was not good after June 1st (.188 batting average).

We repeat, the organization can’t depend on the young guys if they consider themselves a contender, which they should with the results of the last two seasons and the relative youth of the club.

They need a Plan B, if something happens to those four young players. And really, their collective health in the past two years alone should provide enough evidence to do just that.

Guards Need Hitting And More Hitting This Off-Season

Well, it’s all over.

After a furious comeback, an MLB record for the Cleveland Guardians, coming back from a one-time 15.5 game deficit to win the American League Central Division title, the Guards lost two games to one in the Wild Card Series to their division rivals, the Detroit Tigers.

The season ends with another post-season appearance, but with the championship drought now at 78 years.

We are not celebrating because they failed. They didn’t even get as far as Steven Vogt’s crew did a year ago, when they got to the AL Championship Series. And you know what, the Vogt and his team aren’t celebrating either.

The Guardians should take satisfaction from the fact they did not lay down when faced with the huge deficit, something that other teams have done. And frankly it was something of a miracle for Cleveland to win the division because this was one of the worst offensive clubs in Major League Baseball, ranking 28th in runs scored and 29th in team OPS.

Cleveland batted .226 as a team the lowest in club history. The previous low for a full season was in 1968, a year the sport refers to as “The Year Of The Pitcher”. Baseball changed its rules, lowering the pitchers’ mound after that season.

The last time they had a team OPS this low was in 1991. The then Indians’ record that year was 57-105.

We have said it all season long. This club has three good hitters: The incredible Jose Ramirez, Steven Kwan, and Kyle Manzardo. Everyone else is frankly bad.

How bad was it? Well, the organization brought Chase DeLauter, who hasn’t had a big-league bat in his life, up to start the last two playoff games. And DeLauter wasn’t alone. In those games, the Guardians also played George Valera, who had 48 plate appearances and C.J. Kayfus, who had 138.

Remember, the Guardians traded one of their best hitters from a year ago because he was entering the last year of his contract. So, the organization did this to themselves.

As the organization enters the off-season, there simply has to be an emphasis on getting more hitting. Certainly, DeLauter, Valera, and Kayfus figure into the mix, but the Guardians should not put all their eggs into the “rookie” basket. And those four, along with another top prospect, Travis Bazzana, all hit from the left side.

They need a “professional” hitter, preferably right-handed to add depth to the lineup.

They also need to be truthful to themselves about some of the players on the roster. We heard several times on telecasts about the “breakout” year from Gabriel Arias. He batted .220, right in line with his .215 career mark, and although his OPS was a career high at 638, it is still way below league average.

Daniel Schneemann, at age 28, received the 7th most plate appearance on the roster. He had a very good month of May, but after June 1st, he hit just .188. Again, that’s over a four-month span.

Angel Martinez received the fourth most plate appearances on the team and his OPS was just 628. The problem was there weren’t any real alternatives and to be fair, Martinez was pretty good vs. lefties, with a 792 OPS.

More emphasis has to be put on getting on base. Cleveland ranked 29th in on base percentage in the major leagues. Only four players with more than 100 plate appearances got on base at even a 30% clip. Carlos Santana joining the Ramirez, Kwan, Manzardo trio.

Why do they need to be better offensively? On the top ten teams in the majors in runs scored, eight made the playoffs. Only the Diamondbacks and Mets didn’t get there, and both of those teams were in the mix in the last week of the regular season.

The Padres (18th) and the Guardians were the two teams making the post-season without having a good offense. Normally, the top run scorers get to play in October. The Guards can’t tempt fate in 2026.

Let’s hope ownership opens their wallets and the front office doesn’t rely solely on rookies to help.

Much Like The Entire Month, The Post-Season Clincher Was Unreal.

Somehow, it was fitting that the Cleveland Guardians clinched a playoff spot last night on a hit batsman with the bases loaded.

When C.J. Kayfus got hit with a Robert Garcia pitch, the party was on, but probably somewhat muted because a win tomorrow means Steven Vogt’s crew will open the Wild Card Series at home on Tuesday.

The post-season clinching game was kind of a microcosm of the entire year. Vogt put Johnathan Rodriguez in the cleanup spot in the lineup, replacing David Fry. We said on social media that it was an odd choice, seeing the Rodriguez was only called up because of the Fry injury, and he had only amassed 70 plate appearances with the big club all year.

But there he was in the bottom of the first, hitting a two-run homer to give Cleveland the lead. And then, Rodriguez started the winning rally, drawing a two out walk.

Kyle Manzardo, who didn’t play against left-handed pitching most of the year, then blooped one into left field against the southpaw Garcia, sending pinch-runner Petey Halpin to third.

Texas intentionally walked Gabriel Arias, kind of an odd move with Arias’ swing and miss tendencies, to load the bases.

By the way, it was also the first time Garcia hit a batter the entire season.

Joey Cantillo, who started the season in the bullpen, and had two stints in the minor leagues during the season, was the starting pitcher in the game. He also was the starter on September 3rd, an 8-1 win over the Red Sox that started this stretch.

And of course, the bullpen played a big role with Hunter Gaddis getting four outs and Cade Smith getting five. They were the anchors of the relief corps most of the season, and the skipper leaned on them heavily.

Of course. There was something unexpected about the entire run the Guardians went on after losing their first two games in September. Winning 19 of 24 games is incredible in itself, especially when the Guards were pretty much a .500 team heading into that stretch.

Make no mistake, the run was accomplished with incredible pitching. Cleveland has allowed just 67 runs in the month, their previous low in a month in 2025 was the 101 allowed in June. That’s an unbelievable turnaround.

They won seven games where they scored three runs of less during the streak. That’s insane.

They got huge hits during the run from Kayfus, whose 2-run homer turned a 2-1 Kansas City lead into a 3-2 Cleveland win on September 11th.

Another rookie, George Valera, belted a big homer last Wednesday to get the Guards going in a 5-1 win. And Jhonkensy Noel, hitting .152 on the season, homered off Tarik Skubal, on September 18th.

And of course, Rodriguez last night.

They can finish the job today with a win that would give the team their second consecutive division title and their 14th since the three division set up which started in 1994, and their 15th post-season spot in the same time frame.

To be honest, we have no idea how this happened considering the offense is still among the worst in the majors, but who cares. It’s fun just enjoying the winning.

The off-season seems to go quicker when the Guardians are in the playoffs.

An Incredible Stretch That Needs To Last One More Week

It wasn’t even a month ago. It was August 25th, and the Cleveland Guardians were shutout by Tampa Bay, 9-0, their ninth defeat in their last 10 games.

They were a below .500 team at 64-66 and they were six games behind Seattle for the last wild card spot in the American League, and more to the point, they would have to climb over Kansas City and Texas to challenge the Mariners.

Oh, and by the way, they were 12.5 behind Detroit in the Central Division.

Just three days later, the defeated those Mariners in one of those games they had no business winning, falling behind 4-0 in the first inning and being no-hit by George Kirby through five.

Kyle Manzardo broke up the no-no with a homer, and Nolan Jones, of all people, hit another. A seeing eye base hit by Angel Martinez drew the Guardians within one, and the won it in the ninth thanks to another big hit from Jones to start the rally.

They were back above .500 and within four of Seattle.

A three-game losing streak followed capped by a night in Boston where Cleveland hit three homers in a six run sixth off Red Sox’ ace Garrett Crochet, and skipper Steven Vogt took Hunter Gaddis out of the game in the bottom of the 8th with a man on first and two out. Cade Smith gave up four straight hits and the Guardians were back under .500 on September 2nd.

They were four behind for the last wild card spot and now, Tampa Bay was ahead of them as well.

Since then, the Guards’ pitching staff has allowed more than three runs just three times. They’ve won 16 of 18, playing their best baseball of the season and as of today, they are tied with Houston, passed in the standings by Seattle, for that last playoff spot, and they own the tie-breaker with the Astros.

And incredibly, they are just a game behind Detroit for the AL Central lead.

It just doesn’t make a lot of sense, but who cares. We have all heard about what the Guardians record would be based on runs scored and runs against, but the only thing that matters is the win loss record.

In 1995, the Cleveland Indians were the best team in baseball. We think even the world champion Braves would admit that. In 2005, the Indians were 55-51 at the end of July, and then went on a roll, winning 37 of their next 49 and were sitting with the second-best record in the AL heading into the last week of the season.

They lost six of the last seven and missed the playoffs. They won the “team no one wanted to face” award, but no one had to play them.

Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense.

In the last week, Steven Vogt has gotten big hits from Jhonkensy Noel and George Valera and had key pitching performances from Kolby Allard and Jakob Junis. Just like everyone expected.

Every good winning streak is based on getting good pitching and this is no different. In those 17 contests, Guardians’ pitchers have allowed two runs or less in 14 of them. The offense doesn’t have to be good when the other team doesn’t score.

The good play has to last another week for the Guardians to pull this off. Keep winning and the odds are pretty good this team will be in the post-season once again.

Less than a month ago, that would have seemed crazy.

Bad Luck With Prospects Another Obstacle For Guardians

When evaluating the plan, the front office of the Cleveland Guardians come up with going into a season where they had coming off a season where they went to the AL Championship Series a year ago, it is easy to see some of the flaws of what they hoped would happen.

However, there are other things that are simply bad luck.

As we have said before, we understood the trade of Andres Gimenez, who will start making $23 million per season in 2027, and offensively, he simply doesn’t merit that kind of salary. So, the Guards’ front office took the opportunity to deal the Gold Glove winner, ultimately getting pitcher Luis Ortiz and some prospects.

Gimenez hasn’t improved with a bat in his hand, in fact, he’s gotten worse, going from a below average 638 OPS last season to an even worse 599 mark in 2025.

We knew the Guardians knew they would not be able to reach a long-term deal with Josh Naylor, so they moved him as well, getting starter Slade Cecconi in return. He is actually having a better offensive season than a year ago, and no doubt could’ve helped the team’s struggling attack

The problem was who they decided on to replace Naylor. Thinking a 39-year-old Carlos Santana could provide an impact bat was an overreach from the brass.

Part of the problem is bad luck too. Certainly, no one could have foreseen the suspensions of Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase. That wasn’t bad luck for the two players, but it was for the organization.

We are talking about the injuries to players the front office probably anticipated helping the big-league club in 2025. We are talking about Juan Brito, Chase DeLauter, and to a lesser extent, Travis Bazzana.

Brito looks like the kind of hitter the Guardians need desperately in that he gets on base. Last year in AAA, he drew 88 walks and had a .365 on base percentage in addition to hitting 21 homers and knocking in 84 runs.

He’s primarily a second baseman, but has played first, third, and the corner outfield spots. But he’s battling injuries all year and had surgery on his hamstring this past week. He played in just 24 games with Columbus, hitting .256, but with a .357 OBP.

And we have written ad nauseum about the Guards needing guys who can get on base.

DeLauter has dealt with foot injuries since being drafted in the first round in 2022, but this year, had surgery right after spring training to repair a core muscle and then broke his hamate bone in July. He played in just 34 games in AAA.

He looked poised to be promoted when the bone broke after the big-league all-star break, hitting .278 with an 859 OPS, including an .383 OBP.

He is being sent to the Arizona Fall League again, having already played there for 35 games and compiling a 939 OPS in that league.

Bazzana, the first overall pick in last year’s draft has had problems with his oblique, and thus has played in 77 games between Akron and Columbus, hitting .245 but with a .389 OBP and an 813 OPS.

He would have been an option for a September call up had he been healthy all year.

If all three are healthy next year, they should all get chances in Cleveland, and in the case of Brito and DeLauter, a solid chance to break camp with the big league club.

That said, that should NOT be the front office’s plan heading into 2026. You can’t pin your hopes on rookies if you consider yourself a playoff team.

But it was bad luck for the players and the organization.

Three Weeks Left, Guards Are Still Hanging In

Recently, we have taken to calling the Cleveland Guardians zombies because seemingly they will not die. This is a team that suffered through a 9-16 month of June, and a 10 game losing streak that spanned from June 26th through July 6th.

From August 15th to August 23rd, they lost nine out of ten games and fell six game behind Seattle for the last wild card spot in the American League.

They have the second worst offense in the AL, ahead of only Kansas City and while the pitching staff currently ranks 6th in the league in ERA, that is largely due to a current seven game stretch where they’ve allowed just 11 runs.

According to WAR (at least the BaseballReference.com version), they are the worst team in the league, and have the worst non-pitchers, including ranking 15th at centerfield, rightfield, and pinch-hitters, and second from the bottom for the entire outfield.

We have noted in the past that their projected win-loss record based on runs scored and runs allowed is 68-76, so they have outperformed that by six games. The standard deviation is four games, so yes, luck has been a big part of this.

Yet, here they are, just 3.5 games away from the last playoff spot in the Junior Circuit, with 17 games to play. You can pooh-pooh the team’s record all you want, but if you don’t get into the tournament, you don’t have a chance, and Steven Vogt has his team playing for a shot to get in it.

For all of the complaining we fans do about the lineup, platooning, and relief pitcher usage, yes, we are talking about Matt Festa, you have to tip your cap to the skipper for having this group playing meaningful baseball in September.

Maybe it comes from the success in 2022 and 2024, maybe it comes from Jose Ramirez, but this group believes it can overcome things. They are resilient if nothing else.

They’ve overcome the loss of two pitchers, one of them Emmanuel Clase, perhaps the best closer in the game to a paid leave of absence as Major League Baseball investigates a gambling issue involving him and a starting pitcher in Luis Ortiz.

Yet, here they are, right in the thick of it.

All of that said, the Guardians can’t have anymore lulls now. They need to continue to win, pretty much on a nightly basis. They have 17 games remaining and even though they’ve won their last five contests, they are going to have to continue that hot streak and finish something like 14-3.

They do not have the tiebreaker against Seattle, losing four of six, and would have to sweep the Rangers in the season ending series to even things up with Texas, so they would benefit from both teams passing Houston, who the Guards took four of six from this year.

We understand for younger fans, who grew up in the Jacobs/Progressive Field era, being in contention at this time of the year is old hat, but it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Older fans, who experienced the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s know it wasn’t always this way.

Hopefully, the front office won’t look at what has happened this year and think it will always be like this. We will get to this after the season, but this team needs help going forward and they can’t just depend on the farm system.