Cincinnati Reds welcome Cleveland to GABP for Francona Bowl I

Can they win a series at home?

Terry Francona managed in Cleveland for 11 seasons and some 1678 games. While there, he led the Guardians to four AL Central titles and the 2016 AL Pennant, that remarkable club falling just short in an epic World Series against the Chicago Cubs.

Tito was 921-747 in his Cleveland career, good for a .549 winning percentage that, quite frankly, is impossible to imagine as someone who watched the Cincinnati Reds play the exact same amount of baseball over that span.

Those Guardians will be in Cincinnati this evening (and all weekend) as the Reds host the first 2025 series of the Ohio Cup, and this time Tito’s in Cincinnati’s corner. The current Guardians, managed by Steven Vogt, still seem to be doing the same kind of winning as they experienced under Francona, entering the series at 25-18 and in 2nd place in the tightly contested AL Central division.

Cleveland’s offense is predictibly being spearheaded by future Hall of Famer Jose Ramirez and outfield hitting maestro Steven Kwan. They’ve been even better on the road so far this year, too, sporting a collective 109 wRC+ (t-7th overall) and .323 wOBA (t-9th) in games outside of Progressive Field.

If there’s a flaw with their club, it’s been with their starting pitching. They enter the series against Cincinnati sporting a 4.60 FIP from their starters (21st overall) that has been fueled by a 4.19 BB/9 from their starters that’s the single highest mark in all of baseball. The best mark of that bunch had been former Red Ben Lively (3.02 per 9 IP), but Lively hit the IL with a flexor tendon strain in his right arm just this week and will miss the series altogether.

If you simply stare at the standings, this looks like a tough one for the 21-24 Reds. However, Cleveland has reached 7 games over .500 despite having a -14 run differential already this year, while the Reds have outscored their opponents by a total of 24 runs in 2025. Something, then, should be about to give, and the hope is that it’s going to hedge towards the luck of the Reds.

We’ll find out beginning Friday night!

[UPDATE]

Friday’s game has been pushed up to a 5:10 PM ET start due to expected storms in the area. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed the news:

Pitching Matchups

Friday, May 16th (5:10 PM ET): RHP Tanner Bibee vs. RHP Brady Singer

Saturday, May 17th (6:40 PM ET): RHP Luis Ortiz vs. RHP Chase Petty

Sunday, May 18th (1:40 PM ET): TBD vs. LHP Andrew Abbott

How to Watch

All three of these games will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network. You can watch FDSN in-market through cable packages, though it’s also available to be streamed in-market with no blackout restrictions even without a cable subscription. You can check the link in the above sidebar (which I’ve re-linked right here) for more information on how you can do just that.

Per usual, you can view these games from outside the Reds TV market by catching the FDSN stream through MLB.tv.