Assessment of the Guardians: We are at a Crossroads

A season is on the brink of flipping on its head quickly

This weekend in Seattle proved one thing about the 2025 Cleveland Guardians: this is not a good baseball team.

Not right now, at least.

On the season, Cleveland now sits at 35-35, a perfect record that conveniently shows how painfully average this team is overall.

This weekend’s series against the Mariners was a series of implosions, and it was not just the worst series of the season, but it was a turning point in mindset for the fans, and it should be for the front office as well.

On Friday night, Gavin Williams couldn’t find the strike zone, and home plate umpire Derek Thomas couldn’t either. Despite this, Williams fought through four innings, giving up just two runs, and Nolan Jones and Steven Kwan’s back-to-back home runs had the score tied at 2-2. Stephen Vogt, with the game tied, decided to deploy Cade Smith in the fifth inning to face Seattle’s 4-5-6 hitters. After a nearly dangerous head injury was avoided, Smith struck out Dominic Canzone to end the frame. This was the end of the positives for the night.

Tim Herrin came on in the sixth and netted a scoreless frame. Stephen Vogt then attempted to leverage Herrin into a second inning of work, and it was a big mistake. Herrin issued a leadoff walk to Cal Raleigh then immediately surrendered a double to Jorge Polanco. Herrin was then pulled for Hunter Gaddis with runners on second and third with no outs. Gaddis then gave up an RBI single to Randy Arozarena, got Rowdy Tellez to ground out, and then gave up another RBI single to Dominic Canzone, this time plating two. Gaddis has now inherited 18 runners and 11 of them have scored this season.

From there, it was all downhill. After the Jones/Kwan homers in the third inning, Cleveland had just five baserunners reach the rest of the game, none of which advanced into scoring position.

The following night, Tanner Bibee, much like Williams, struggled with command early, and it bit him right away. Each of the first three Mariners — Crawford, Rodriguez, and Raleigh — reached. Crawford singled, Rodriguez also singled, and then Raleigh doubled home Crawford, advancing Julio to third. A Jorge Polanco sacrifice fly the next batter would make it 2-0, and only one out had been recorded. Normally, a 2-0 deficit early spells disaster for the offense as they just forget they also have to show up (we’ll get to that), but they picked up Bibee, plating one run in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings consecutively.

Remember that Codify tweet about the Guardians and how they were undefeated dating back to the start of last season when leading after eight innings? They don’t make more obvious jinxes. Emmanuel Clase came on to lock down the win in the ninth, and it did not go to plan even a little bit. The first two batters reached on a single and a walk — Clase had not issued a walk since May 17 — and following a sacrifice bunt from Cole Young, Clase opted to intentionally walk JP Crawford to set up a double play. Then, this happened:

If you ever want to watch inexperience play out first-hand, that’s it. Plain and simple, a lazy play from Bo Naylor cost the Guardians their lead and eventually the game, but that’s really just how this stretch has gone. If it can go wrong right now, it will. Jorge Polanco eventually walked off Clase, giving the Mariners a 4-3 win.

The following day, they may as well have not shown up. A second inning grand slam surrendered by Luis Ortiz to JP Crawford, who Cleveland pitching made look like Ken Griffey Jr. all weekend, blew the game wide open, and the offense, as expected, never even attempted to surface. Emerson Hancock and Seattle’s bullpen shut out the Guardians 6-0, capping off an embarrassing sweep, and for the second time in the series, a runner never even reached second base.

STANDINGS

DET: 46-27
MIN: 36-35 | 9.0 GB
CLE: 35-35 | 9.5 GB
KC: 34-38 | 11.5 GB
CWS: 23-49 | 22.5 GB

Here is a look at Cleveland’s offensive rankings for the season:

270 runs scored (25th)
92 wRC+ (23rd)
.374 SLG (24th)
72 HR (18th)
.300 wOBA (25th)
29.4% chase rate (25th)
25.8% whiff rate (24th)
81.3% z-con rate (24th)
6.7% barrel rate (27th)
36.5% hard hit rate (LAST)
103.6 EV90 (LAST)

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Simply put, this team is at an action point in its season. This front office can continue to sit on its hands past the Super-2 date with Kayfus and DeLauter as they already have for a couple weeks now, or they can admit what we all already know: this team isn’t going anywhere fast, and it’s far more likely to get worse before it gets better.

DeLauter and Kayfus may struggle, in fact, they will struggle. However, this organization has not had a total package of a prospect like Chase DeLauter in a very long time. If he were healthy, he’d have been here already, but he’s healthy now. The longer they wait, the less serious we all take this team.

To Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff, make the necessary changes NOW, or continue to lose credibility within your fanbase. The reputation of failing to develop hitting prospects has permeated rapidly. From former top-50 prospects like Arias or Nolan Jones never panning out to trading bats like Junior Caminero because they simply didn’t see it with him only for him to go to Tampa Bay in exchange for three weeks of Tobias Myers in Triple-A. Caminero would easily be the second best hitter on this team.

That being said, the shift in prospect evaluation has also shifted, and DeLauter is the best hitting prospect this organization has had since Lindor. They have to prove they trust what he can become now, and that time is now.

Cleveland heads to San Francisco and then Sacramento to finish this West Coast trip.