The Guardians have been sitting at the top of their division and the MLB since the beginning of the season when they started with three wins. They have since played nine different series and have only lost two of those, one to the New York Yankees and one to the Atlanta Braves. Cleveland has a record of 19-9, tying for most wins with New York, Atlanta, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to Baseball-Reference.com, their SRS, or Simple Rating System, has the Guardians at a 2.1, leading the league in front of the Braves, who have a 1.5. If you’re unfamiliar with the SRS stat, it’s the run differential from the average team plus the strength of their schedule. It’s not the most perfect stat, as Cleveland has had a few blow-out wins to skew their runs a little higher, but this helps to show how dominant they have been so far.
Cleveland has set a pace that rivals some of the franchise’s best seasons. Their record is the best start since 2011 when they went 20-8. If they keep this same pace their win percentage (.679) will be more than when they won the World Series in 1920, and 1948. The two complete seasons that have been better than that were in 1954 (.721) and 1995 (.694). They lost the World Series in both of those years.
How To Maintain The Dominance
The Cleveland Guardians have a few things going for them, and a few things they will have to work against to keep their winning percentage high. According to Tankathon.com, the Guardians have the fifth easiest schedule remaining in the MLB. Their strength of schedule rating is .487. They have yet to play some other top teams in the MLB this year, but they also have many games against weaker teams left. Some of their biggest opponents will be the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, and the Milwaukee Brewers. The Guards have one series left against each of those teams except the Orioles, whom they will have two series against.
Related Post: Series Recap: Cleveland Guardians at Atlanta Braves 4/26-4/28
The bats have been flying, and the hits have been coming. The league batting average is .240, and the Guardians sit in the top ten teams with an average of .250. They’re also 15 runs higher than the league average (127) with 143. Having the third least strikeouts (207) and fifth most runs per game in the league (5.11) will help too.
Cleveland could also have some advantages when it comes to pitching. They have the fifth-best combined ERA at 3.22 and only give up 3.46 runs against them per game on average, the third-best in the MLB. Also, they’re tied for second for most team shutouts with four.
Here’s the double-edged sword that could impact their system this season. The Guardians are a very young team. Their average batter age is tied for the youngest in the league at 26.4 years. That is almost two years under the 28.2 league average. For pitchers, they are the fourth youngest at 27.9 years putting them 1.5 years under the 29.4 league average. Some benefits of a younger team are their athleticism, faster recovery time, and the ability to learn and adjust to new things quickly. Some disadvantages could be their inexperience, mental fortitude, and inconsistency.
To keep this pace up they need that consistency. Their batting average needs to stay high and their runs against needs to stay low. While that’s a fairly basic statement, it will be much harder than it sounds. One thing that could immediately impact the team could be working on their base stealing. Cleveland has 32 bases stolen, the third most in the MLB, but have been caught stealing the most amount of times (13). Keeping players on base could be crucial to getting an edge on their competition.
One thing that’s not been mentioned yet is having a first-year Manager. So far Stephen Vogt has been leading the Guardians to success but being able to sustain that has yet to be seen. His decisions have seemed to help the team lately but he does lack some experience.
With all of these things in mind, it’s possible that the Guardians could find themselves in a deep playoff run. With a schedule that’s working for them, and if the young player can be consistent, the pitchers stay healthy, and their first-year manager keeps making the right decisions the city of Cleveland could be looking at a great year ahead for baseball.
One thought on “Can the Cleveland Guardians Keep This Pace?”