To say that the first half of the MLB season was a disappointment for Cleveland Guardians fans would be a huge understatement.
Nevertheless, as tough as things have been, there’s still a glimmer of hope for this team.
The Guardians caught some momentum right before the All-Star break, and now, they have one of the easiest schedules left in all of baseball.
With that in mind, MLB insider Tim Stebbins argued that the front office should look to stand pat, as opposed to making any big moves:
“If you’re talking about reasons for the Guardians to stand pat, here’s one for you: Cleveland’s second-half strength schedule. Entering Friday, the Guardians had 67 games remaining in 2025, and their opponents’ combined winning percentage was .467. In other words, the Guardians had the easiest remaining strength of schedule in the Major Leagues. And yes, no game in the big leagues is easy, and any player or manager will tell you that. But the Guardians’ 13 games out of the break before the deadline are against teams under .500 in the A’s, the Orioles, the Royals, and the Rockies. So they do, at least, have an opportunity to stack up some wins before and after the trade deadline to truly establish themselves as part of this AL postseason race,” Stebbins said.
That’s what makes the most sense for this team right now.
Even if they fail to make the most of their easy schedule and make the playoffs, this team isn’t that far from being a playoff contender as things stand now.
They just need to get a couple of bats in the offseason, and at least one of those bats might already be in their minor league system.
Moving on from a player like Emmanuel Clase, Steven Kwan, or even Carlos Santana won’t do anything to help their case in the near future.
Also, parting ways with promising prospects to make an unlikely World Series run this season might not be in their best interests, either.
If anything, the Guardians should just call up a player or two, get Shane Bieber back, and see how things go.
They will have some big issues to address, but they can wait until the offseason to take care of business and bolster the offense.
NEXT: Chase DeLauter Has An Impressive Minor League Streak
