The Cleveland Guardians are the two-time defending AL Central champions, but if certain predictions are to be believed, they won’t even make the playoffs in 2026. In fact, they might not even be a .500 team.
The Guardians have faced a great deal of criticism this offseason for not making any acquisitions to improve an offense that ranked among the worst in MLB last year. Instead, Cleveland is banking on a collection of top prospects from their highly regarded farm system to boost the lineup from within.
Though relying on their young talent has worked in the past, the Guardians have been given a worrisome win projection for 2026, with FanGraphs putting the number at 75.5.
“Guardians: Proj W – 75.5,” FanGraphs wrote.
If accurate, that record would put Cleveland fourth in the division, behind the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins, and ahead of only the Chicago White Sox. It would also mirror the Guardians’ most recent losing season, when it was 76-86 in 2023. They also were 80-82 in 2021.
However, in the seasons surrounding those, the Guardians won the division three times, in 2022 and the past two years. That is part of a dominant run over the past decade.
Last year’s performance may have been the most impressive of them all. The Guardians trailed by as many as 15.5 games at one point during the season, and were still 11 games back in September, before making a historic rally to overtake the Tigers.
That task might be more difficult this season after Detroit recently added top free agent pitcher Framber Valdez. However, the immediate future of Tarik Skubal remains unclear as trade rumors persist around the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner.
As for the Guardians, they will have a new-look offense with the additions of Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana, who are projected to make their major league regular-season debuts in the Opening Day lineup. They will join late-season call-ups C.J. Kayfus and George Valera as Cleveland tries a different approach.
They will team with All-Stars Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, as well as Kyle Manzardo, to try to prevent the Guardians from this predicted losing season.
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