After a hot start to the first half of the season, the Cleveland Guardians were dubbed the surprise story of 2024 in the baseball world. Rightly so, considering the team entered the season with very low expectations from MLB experts and was selected as the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. The Guardians finished the first half with a record of 58-37, leading the American League Central. As of today, Cleveland is 4-6 in its last ten games and appears to have lost its momentum.
In addition to the Guardians’ epic collapse to start the second half of the season, their division rival, the Minnesota Twins, are 6-4 in their last ten games, gaining ground on the Guardians’ lead and trailing by just 2.5 games. The division winner could be decided in the current series.
The Guardians lost the first two games of the series and picked up a clear 2-1 win over the Twins on Saturday. Tensions are rising within the organization and manager Stephen Vogt’s frustration was expressed two nights ago.
A balk is called and manager Stephen Vogt is ejected from the game. pic.twitter.com/aAK0eKOpFm
– Dillard Barnhart (@BarnHasSpoken2) 10 August 2024
If Cleveland doesn’t get going, it will actually be back on the hunt, much like last season.
They have lost seven games in a row, their last victory coming at home against the Baltimore Orioles on August 2. Until last weekend, the Guardians had not lost more than three games in a row all season. The most glaring problem is that they are not hitting the ball. As the team with the best record in the division right now, they rank 22nd in hits, 17th in batting average and 19th in on-base percentage. Their pitching stats are still in the top half of the league, but if they want to keep their division lead, they will need to find their rhythm at bat.
Essentially, the Guardians need to win the final game of their current series against Minnesota. Cleveland has a tough schedule ahead of it, including a back-to-back road series against the Milwaukee Brewers, who lead the National League Central, and a road series against the New York Yankees, who are one game behind the Orioles in the AL East.
Oddly enough, no one is talking about this epic collapse, it seems to be going unnoticed, at least for now. The Twins seem to have some fighting spirit left in them in this final stretch of the season, and if Cleveland doesn’t use tonight’s much-needed win as a confidence boost, they’ll find themselves on the other end of this division race.
