2025 could be a very good year for the Cleveland Guardians.
They went to the American League Championship Series last season and could take that next step this year if they play their cards right.
For now, however, let’s go back 30 years to 1995.
Baseball was still recovering from the strike that started in 1994.
The Guardians were one of the top squads in the league those days, sending one of the most feared lineups in history night in and night out.
Team legend Carlos Baerga, who went to three All-Star Games and won two Silver Slugger awards over a three-year span from 1992 to 1995, talked about that group.
The 1995 Cleveland lineup was stacked with all-time greats 🤯@BaergaCarlos joined #MLBNHotStove to talk through one of the most feared batting orders in recent memory. pic.twitter.com/c9XF8HmmZs
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 11, 2025
He said that it wasn’t cockiness, but that lineup went out to the field knowing that no one could beat them.
Kenny Lofton led off, contact hitter and stolen base artist Omar Vizquel batted second and Baerga, who had a 109 OPS+ in his career with Cleveland, was the third-hole hitter.
Oddly enough, and thanks to the way the game was played back then, the Guardians’ (then Indians) best hitters were yet to appear in the batting order.
Albert Belle, Eddie Murray and Jim Thome were fourth, fifth and sixth.
It’s hard to think about a better 4-6 in any lineup than those three.
Having Thome, a Hall of Famer with more than 600 home runs, hitting sixth shows just how deep this unit was (and yes, also how odd lineup construction was).
Manny Ramirez, one of the greatest right-handed hitters of our generation, was seventh (!) and Paul Sorrento was eighth.
Catcher Sandy Alomar closed things out.
That Cleveland team steamrolled the opposition to a 100-44 record.
They beat the Boston Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners in the Division and Championship Series, respectively, but fell to the Atlanta Braves in the World Series, in six games.
NEXT: Recent Free Agent Contract Puts Guardians Cost Efficiency In Perspective
