What a difference a week can make in Cleveland Baseball

What a difference a week can make…

That can be said for many situations in life, but when it comes to the 2024 Cleveland Guardians and their fans, it has consistently been an all-too-real sentiment for months now.

In late June, the Guardians won seven straight while scoring at least six runs in all but one of those games.
They followed that up by losing four-of-five and scoring a combined eight runs in the losses.

Cleveland then came out of the All-Star break and lost three-of-four before winning three-of-their-next-four games.

A five-game win streak that followed in the ensuing week then restored Guardians fans confidence.

That “good” week at the beginning of August was quickly wiped away with a seven-game losing streak that saw many slowly stepping off of the Guardians bandwagon.

It also saw Cleveland’s lead in the AL Central shrink to just 1.5 games as the Twins swept an important double-header on August 9th.

The next 7 days belonged to the Guardians, winning five straight, including the final two games of the series against the Twins.

By August 16th, their division lead was back up to 4.5 games.

Then came the Guardians worst span of the season, losing nine of their next 12 games.

On the morning of Wednesday, Augst 28th, exactly one week ago, the Guardians were tied atop the AL Central thanks to that rough stretch. They shared the division lead after sitting alone on top for nearly four months prior.

They had one game left in their series against the Royals, who were one of baseball’s hottest team and the team tied with Cleveland atop the division, before traveling to Kansas City four days later.

The Guardians responded by taking the final game of that pivotal series against KC before taking two-of-three against the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend.

Ain’t he something?#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/6Gg7QCGxqX

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 1, 2024

The Guardians then traveled to Kansas City and took the first two games in convincing fashion.

Today? Cleveland has ballooned its division lead back to 4.5 games over the Twins and 5.5 games over the Royals. The Guardians also own the almighty tie-breaker over the Twins, putting them in prime position to capture yet another Central Division Title.

Their Playoff odds currently sit at 99.9% and their odds to win the division sit at %89.1 (Baseball-Reference).

Also just one week ago, highly-touted prospect Kyle Manzardo was batting cleanup for the Columbus Clippers, hoping to get another crack at the show after a short stint earlier this season saw him hit just .207 with zero home runs.

Today? Manzardo is possibly the Guardians hottest bat and looking like he could be a key-cog in the lineup for the stretch run.

 

This is a different video. But it is kinda the same. #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/na0OeBwBy3

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 1, 2024

In the three games since being re-called on September 1st, the left-handed hitting first basemen is 5-for-10 with two homeruns, a double and a walk. He homered twice on Sunday, in his first game back in the bigs and had three hits in a huge, 7-1 victory, over the Royals two days later.

The Guards have won all three games since Manzardo’s return.

Alex Cobb was on the injured list with a fingernail injury that was one of many similar issues he has gone through of late.

Confidence in what, if anything at all, he’d be able to provide down the stretch, as he joined Manzardo with the Clippers for a rehab start, was low.

Today? Cobb is coming off of his best start in a year, going six strong innings on Sunday, giving up just one run on two hits while looking like the all-star version of himself from a year ago.

Cleveland has spent the entire season above .500 and have been in first place in the AL Central since April 6th, a span of 130 days and counting.

They have the youngest team in the league for the third year in a row and seem well on pace to win their second division title in that span.

Despite all of this, there has been plenty of skepticism surrounding the Guards throughout the season.

The up-and-down play of the past few months haven’t helped that, but this last week has given new hope.

The bandwagon is filling back up, fast. Hopefully, that won’t change again before the end of the season.

I guess we’ll see in a week.