Welcome to the Cleveland Guardians Amusement Park.
Step right up and walk through the Ramirez-merising Fun House!
And there!
You can swing (and miss) on the Franmil Reyes Chair Ride!
But, you absolutely can’t miss out on the one, the only, team bus-themed rollercoaster ride.
Featuring heights as wild as two sweeps against mediocre opponents, and death-defying drops like six straight losses to the Yankees and Angels.
You simply won’t be able to get a grip!
In short, it’s hard to predict where this Guardians team will end up come October.
If you said the team would be basically .500, with a feel-good season from Steven Kwan and an All-League caliber season from José Ramirez, it wouldn’t be too shocking.
Or if, come autumn, the Guardians were at the top of the AL Central, with All-Star play from Kwan, Ramirez, Owen Miller, and a strong turnaround from Reyes, it would also not be terribly surprising.
A Kwanbelievable month for the rookie.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/IUefc5DKPf
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 2, 2022
Perhaps a teeny bit surprising, but still in the realm of possibility.
The only surprising thing would be this team suddenly dropping off.
But for now, the first prediction feels the most likely.
The Guardians are 10-12 and sit 3.5 games behind the Twins in the AL Central.
Worse, they only have a one-game lead over the third-place White Sox, who have put together an abysmal start to the season.
After a strong start behind the plate, the team has cooled a tad.
The Guardians currently sit sixth in hits (108), tenth in runs (101), and seventh in RBIs (99).
But defensively and on the mound, the team is basically average.
That’s not a bad thing.
Just ask Cincinnati.
But the team is 21st in ERA (3.87), 24th in strikeouts (171), and 22nd in saves (4).
On the field, the team is 17th in errors (11) and 15th in fielding percentage (.985).
Again, these numbers aren’t terrible, per se.
The pitching could stand to improve, and maybe the team goes out and targets an arm or two at the trade deadline.
But it’s not where the team wants to be.
It’s getting monster seasons out of Kwan and Ramirez.
Guys like Miller, Myles Straw, and Josh Naylor are also stepping up.
But the one thing consistently killing this team is, well, consistency.
The Cleveland Guardians last 6 series 😃😱
Swept Reds
Swept by Giants
Swept White Sox
Swept by Yankees
Swept by Angels
Swept A’s pic.twitter.com/T6Zh51QlXf— McNeil (@Reflog_18) May 1, 2022
It’s a team capable of hanging double digits on the bad teams, pouring on runs and extending leads.
And it’s also a team capable of disappearing against quality opponents.
At some point, Manager Terry Francona and the front office are going to have to figure out whether this team is legit or, like the emperor, not wearing any clothes.
A great place to start would be this week’s series against the San Diego Padres.
The Padres come to Cleveland with a 15-8 record and strong players like Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth.
Against teams like that, the Guardians haven’t fared so well.
But perhaps Franmil Reyes can build on a strong showing in the rubber match Oakland game and the pitching can develop a groove.
Sure would be a nice way to put the league on notice.
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