The Cleveland Guardians have been one of the best teams in baseball thus far, boasting a 44-25 record and sitting five games in front of the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central (seven in the loss column).
However, things are about to get tougher for the upstart Guardians.
Cleveland is getting set to begin a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night, which will begin an absolutely brutal stretch that could ultimately define the ballclub’s season.
The Guardians are about to play for 13 straight days and in 26 of the next 27. It makes sense, considering Cleveland has only played 69 games at the time of this writing. That’s the least amount of contests in baseball, with no other club having played less than 71.
But it’s not just the quantity of the games that the Guardians are about to play. It’s the quality of the opponents.
Ten of their next 13 games will feature matchups against teams with winning records. That includes a four-game road set with the division-rival Royals starting on June 27. They will also face the rugged Baltimore Orioles on the road right before battling Kansas City.
This next month or so could absolutely determine Cleveland’s course for the 2024 campaign and will almost certainly influence what the Guardians decide to do at the July 30 MLB trade deadline.
Further complicating things for Cleveland is the fact that its starting rotation has not exactly been a strength, with only two of its starters owning sub-4 ERAs. As a matter of fact, two of the club’s starting pitchers sport ERAs north of 5.
The Guardians have been largely saved by a terrific bullpen, as they rank No. 1 in the majors with a 2.33 ERA in that category. But with so many games coming up, the pen could get taxed if the starters are unable to deliver.
We are about to discover if Cleveland is really a legitimate World Series contender that can challenge teams like the New York Yankees and the Orioles in the American League.
