How real are good starts from Guardians Brewers Cubs.
Cleveland Guardians (33-17)
Key stat: The Guardians currently lead the AL in runs per game after finishing 12th last season. After finishing last in the majors in home runs in 2023 with 0.77 per game, Cleveland is averaging 1.08 in 2024, just above the MLB average.
Hot start: Closer Emmanuel Clase is 3-1 with a 0.39 ERA and 13 saves. He has three blown save opportunities, but the Guardians still won all three games. Last season, he lost nine games and blew 12 saves.
Can he keep it going? Triston McKenzie has a 3.44 ERA despite walking over five batters per nine innings.
Area of concern: The rotation is shaky without Shane Bieber and the bench has been weak other than catcher/utilityman/DH David Fry.
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Last weekend was a perfect summation of how the season has gone for Cleveland. On Friday, the Guardians were tied 2-2 with the Twins in the bottom of the eighth. With the top of the order up, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli summoned flamethrower Jhoan Duran. With two outs, Duran hung a 2-1 curveball to Jose Ramirez, who hit the go-ahead home run. The Guardians blew out the Twins on Saturday and then on Sunday, Duran once again entered a tie game after Minnesota scored off Clase in the ninth with an unearned run (Clase’s own error). After a walk, wild pitch and intentional walk to Josh
Naylor, the Guardians’ Will Brennan hit a first-pitch curveball for a two-out, walk-off home run. It was a statement series against the team favored to win the division at the start of the season.
Clutch hitting and clutch relief work have carried Cleveland. The Guardians had created an estimated 213 runs — but scored 244, as they’ve done their best work with runners in scoring position, hitting .302 and slugging .501. Six players have an OPS over .900 with RISP. The bullpen, meanwhile, has been deep and effective, ranking first in the majors in both win probability added and ERA. It has also been worked
a lot with Clase, Nick Sandlin, Hunter Gaddis and Scott Barlow each appearing in at least 23 of the team’s first 47 games. Still, kudos to first-year manager Stephen Vogt (and longtime pitching coach Carl Willis) for pulling all the right strings in the pen.
Of course, we know these things are likely to regress, especially the hitting with runners in scoring position. That will put more pressure on a shaky rotation and an offense that still has holes. The Guardians really need Bo Naylor and Brayan Rocchio to do more at the plate; in Naylor’s case, at least he showed as a rookie last season that he has more potential than what we’ve seen in 2024.
