There’s still plenty of baseball to be played this season, but the Cleveland Guardians should approach their upcoming series with the Detroit Tigers with a postseason-type mindset.
They will begin a four-game series with the Tigers at Comerica Park on Thursday, and they desperately need to make up some ground in the division.
As of now, the Tigers lead the AL Central by 5.5 games, and the Guardians fell to the fourth spot, six full games behind them.
That’s why, even though it’s early in the season, Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com thinks this will be a must-win series for Stephen Vogt’s team:
“It’s hard to say a series in late May can take a team out of contention, but if the Guardians don’t earn at least a split against the Tigers, their downward spiral will continue. Statistically, the series is a mismatch. The Tigers hold almost all the cards,” Hoynes wrote. “Last season the Guardians went 7-6 against the Tigers in the regular season. Oddly enough, the Tigers outscored them in the series, 60-50. In 2023, Detroit went 9-4 against the Guardians.”
Last season, the Guardians led the division for most of the campaign.
They finished the year 6.5 games ahead of the Tigers.
Now, A.J. Hinch’s team is looking like a legitimate threat, and failing to win some games could spell disaster.
Losing five games in a row took this team from second to fourth place, and while the divisional race is still tight, they can’t keep falling behind.
Fortunately, the Tigers will be without their top two starters for this series, as they just placed Reese Olson (4-3, 2.96) on the Injured List with a finger injury, while Casey Mize (6-1, 2.53) will be out with a strained hamstring.
The Guardians won’t have Ben Lively either, but there’s a slight chance that Lane Thomas could be back at some point.
This team is much better than it’s looked over the past week or so, and hopefully, they’ll get back on track in Detroit this weekend.
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