The Cleveland Guardians entered the 2026 season coming off an American League Central best 88-74 record. The team stormed back from a 15.5 game deficit behind the Detroit Tigers in the final weeks of the season. However, Detroit eventually eliminated them in the Wild Card round, ending Cleveland’s October early.
The Guards were relatively quiet in free agency this winter. However, they did sign right-handed pitcher Shawn Armstrong, a bullpen arm who gave the Texas Rangers a productive 71-game workload in 2025. They also added first baseman Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins spent the first six seasons in Philadelphia and the last two with Milwaukee. He owns a 120 OPS+ throughout his career, giving the club a nice platoon option alongside Kyle Manzardo.
The Guardians have gotten off to a 14-12 start, good for a tie with Detroit for first place in the division. They continue to be one of baseball’s best teams at home, winning eight of their first 13 games at Progressive Field.
Early on, José Ramírez passed Terry Turner’s record for most games played in Cleveland’s franchise history, appearing in his 1,620th game with the club. The first couple weeks also saw a breakout from rookie outfielder Chase DeLauter. On March 28, DeLauter became the third player ever to hit a home run in each of the first three games in his career. He joined Trevor Story and Kyle Lewis, who did so in 2016 and 2019, respectively. Chicago White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami joined the elite club one day later.
BW Sport Management student Cooper Riley expressed his pleasure with the team’s performance early in 2026. “The emergence of guys like Daniel Schneemann and Brayan Rocchio have provided the offense with a much-needed boost that has kept us a threat to start the year. It’s also amazing to see the pitching staff continue their dominance from the end of last season, and they’ve given us a chance in almost every game,” Riley said.
Just as they did during their miraculous comeback last September, the Guardians have thrived behind outstanding starting pitching and have won with just enough offense.
While the season is still young, it appears that Cleveland has put itself in a good position to compete for the AL Central title. If the Guards can pull that off, it would win the division for the third consecutive season.
