The Cleveland Guardians are showing signs of life after a rough stretch coming out of the All-Star break, but MLB.com still isn’t buying in just yet.
Cleveland climbed back from a month that featured no wins in its first nine series after the break, an embarrassing sweep by the New York Mets, and dropped series against the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. Now the Guardians have put together two straight series wins, first taking two of three from the San Francisco Giants and then sweeping the Colorado Rockies in three games at Coors Field.
That surge has pulled Cleveland to within 3.5 games of the first-place White Sox in the AL Central, and the club is tied for the final AL Wild Card spot. Even so, the Guardians slid from No. 17 to No. 18 in MLB.com’s latest power rankings.
“Any team (and especially its offense) will look better when it gets to play the Rockies at Coors Field, but still: The Guardians will take runs however they can get them. One way they’re getting them is from trade acquisition Jo Adell. His 15 RBIs in his first 16 games with the Guardians were the most in a player’s first 16 games with Cleveland for more than a decade,” Will Leitch wrote.
Adell has been at the center of the recent offensive push. In the sweep of Colorado, he went 6-for-?
No, the source says he had six hits and six RBIs in the three games, and he also delivered a six-RBI game against the Giants. That performance came after he was fortunate to avoid injury when he fouled a pitch off his leg.
The trade-deadline additions haven’t stopped with Adell. Starter Foster Griffin picked up his third straight decision on Sunday and has allowed just four earned runs over 16.0 innings in those three outings.
Cleveland still has plenty of work ahead if it wants to return to the playoffs for a third straight year. The Guardians are one game under .500 with 31 games remaining, but the path is there. They enter Monday tied with the Texas Rangers for the third and final wild card berth, and five other teams are within 3.5 games.
The schedule may give them a real chance to keep climbing. The Guardians close their road trip with three games against the Los Angeles Angels before heading home for a 10-game homestand against the Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays and Tigers.
In Other News...
Kyle Manzardo Is Facing A Big Test In Triple A
Kyle Manzardos latest assignment in Triple-A came after the Guardians brought in Nathaniel Lowe, pushing the young first baseman back down to keep his bat and approach in focus. He has responded with some pop, putting up a .264/.339/.547 slash line with four home runs in 62 plate appearances, which at least shows the kind of impact Cleveland wants to see from a player whose power has never been in doubt.
The challenge, though, is the same one that has followed Manzardo for stretches of his rise: the swing-and-miss that keeps his production from looking as complete as it could. His strikeout rate remains high and the contact percentage low, so this stint looks less like a simple detour and more like a targeted development stop, with the organization trying to sharpen specific parts of his game before the next call comes. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Lineup Is Finally Sending A Promising Deadline Message
Stephen Vogt finally got to write the same lineup card twice in a row, and for a club that has spent much of the season juggling roles, that alone carried some meaning. The Guardians used that look against the Rockies and came away with wins, with trade pickups Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe settled in as everyday pieces and giving the offense a steadier shape as Cleveland keeps searching for consistency at the plate.
The bigger message may be the way Vogt is using these final weeks to test fit as much as production, mixing in player positioning and matchups against right-handed pitching while the season heads into its last month. For a team still making adjustments, back-to-back games with the same group offered a small but noticeable sign that some of the deadline additions are starting to define the picture rather than just fill it. [Read more 🡒]
Stephen Vogt Has A Lineup Problem Cleveland Cant Ignore
Stephen Vogt has spent much of the season trying to find the right combination, and the Guardians have made that search obvious. Cleveland has used 119 different lineups, a sign of both the rosters flexibility and the challenge of getting everyday continuity in place. The club has enough moving parts to mix and match, but at some point the constant shuffling starts to work against the rhythm a team needs in the stretch run.
Vogt does not need to lock into a rigid lineup every night, but Cleveland could use a more consistent core for most of what remains. Stability in the everyday spots would help the defense settle in and give the offense a better chance to build momentum from game to game. The question now is not whether the Guardians have options, but which version of the lineup gives them the best blend of balance and reliability when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]