The Cleveland Guardians recently had a golden opportunity to turn their season around and solidify their playoff status. They had home games against the Arizona Diamondbacks and lowly New York Mets on the schedule, which would allow them to build some momentum heading into crucial series against the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.
Instead, the Guardians are much worse off than they were entering this month. After losing two of three to the Diamondbacks, they were inexplicably swept by the Mets, who had one of the worst records in baseball. Then, Cleveland went 2-4 on the road against its AL Central rivals, which pushed it down to fourth place in the division.
Now coming off two losses in three games to the San Diego Padres at Progressive Field, former Cleveland star Carlos Baerga has revealed what the Guardians must figure out, and that is to win their home games.
“We need to get better. That’s the key right there. When you’re playing at home, you have to let everybody know: This is our house. That’s the mentality we had when we played here. When you come here, you better be ready, and we need to win,” Baerga said.
The Guards NEED to figure out how to win at home. #GuardsBall@baerga99 needs the "protect our house" mentality to return. https://t.co/cqv2GQH5LK pic.twitter.com/XJ6mxVp5gu
— BIGPLAY Cleveland (@BIGPLAYcle) August 16, 2026
The Guardians entered the All-Star break tied with the White Sox for first place in the division. Since then, Cleveland is 9-19, and 5-11 at home, and it has fallen six games behind. The Guardians have also fallen into eighth place in the AL Wild Card race after holding a playoff position almost all season.
Overall, Cleveland is 29-33 at home this season, which makes it one of just two potential playoff teams that are under .500 in that category. By comparison, last season, when the Guardians staged a historic September rally to win the division, they finished 45-36 at home.
It is not only the fact that the Guardians are losing these winnable games, but it is also the manner in which they are doing so. Only two of their losses since July 18 have been by one run.
Fortunately, the upcoming schedule should provide even more chances to right the ship. There are consecutive upcoming series against the San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, and Kansas City Royals, who have four of the five worst records in the majors.
Now, all the Guardians have to do is take advantage to keep their playoff hopes alive.
NEXT: Guardians Get Notable Ranking Among MLB's Farm Systems
