The Cleveland Guardians Lead Their Division In Wins And Patience

Sometimes no strategy is a strategy.

Sometimes you achieve success by not chasing it.

Sometimes your biggest opponent is patience.

The surprising, first-place Cleveland Guardians are a study in success through unpopular means. It’s not for everyone, because it’s not sexy, it doesn’t sell tickets, and it’s not headline-grabbing. It’s actually pretty boring. But every once in a while, when all the pieces fall into place, all that patience pays off.

That’s where the Guardians are now: with a record of 66-56, and a four-game lead in their division with 40 games left to play.

Nobody saw this coming because nobody saw Cleveland do anything that indicated they were trying to win in 2022. In 2021 the Guardians had a losing record (80-82), and followed that with a do-nothing offseason that seemed to presage another losing record in 2022.

Following their mediocre 2021 season, Guardians management, with the fan base and media clamoring for action, basically sat out the offseason. No big trades. No big free agent signings. No indication that good times were ahead in 2022.

Turns out, with 40 games left in the 2022 season, good times WERE ahead – then and now. Who knew? Guardians’ management, and only Guardians management.

It’s easy to have patience when you have no money to spend, and that was the ballclub’s situation last winter. It either didn’t have money to spend, or it had money, but chose not to spend it to improve the team.

The former theory is the working theory. The evidence: the team added a minority owner early in the 2022 season. The impact of that new money won’t be necessarily felt this season.

But what has been felt, to great impact, this season is the sublime, albeit enforced patience Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff had in what they were building. It was building by not rebuilding.

There was no offseason of tinkering or rebuilding anything. It was an offseason of staying the course, in the belief that, through the natural progression of player development, progress would be made.

That progress has been greater and faster than anyone anticipated. A team that lost more games than it won last year has quietly risen to the top of the AL Central, ahead of the Twins and White Sox, two teams with payrolls – $143 million and $196 million respectively – that dwarf Cleveland’s $66 million.

The only significant roster move made by the Guardians this year was signing Jose Ramirez to a 7-year $141 million contract extension. Ramirez has responded with one of the best years of his career, with a league-leading 37 doubles, 103 RBI, all while yapping at the heels of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in many other offensive categories.

“I’m glad he’s in our uniform every day,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said, after Ramirez hit two home runs in the 7-0 win over the Padres on Wednesday. “Because he plays the game right. He’s not always going to hit two home runs in a game, but he gives you an honest effort every day, and his baseball intelligence is off the charts.”

The Guardians as a team are back on the charts, with a second half surge to the top of the AL Central. On July 14 Cleveland had a record of 44-44 and were 3 ½ games out of first place. Since then, the Guardians’ winning percentage is .647 (22-12), which has vaulted them into first place in the division, four games ahead of both the Twins and White Sox.

Cleveland completed a two-game sweep of the Padres with that 7-0 win, behind Ramirez and the Guardians’ winningest pitcher, Cal Quantrill (10-5).

“I like the way we’re playing,” Quantrill said. “That (the Padres) is a playoff caliber team over there. We’re playing really good baseball against teams like that. Anyone can go out and beat a bad team or take a series. But this was kind of a barometer on where we sit. Are we ready? Can we handle what playoff baseball is going to look like? The boys showed up and really put their foot to the metal.”

Cleveland will conclude their road trip with a four-game series in Seattle. Following the Seattle series, 24 of the Guardians’ last 36 games will be played at home, and 15 of their final 30 games will be played against teams with losing records.

“We talk about it,” said Quantrill, of Cleveland’s style of play. “Putting your foot on guys’ throats. ‘We’re on top of you and you’re going to have to fight your way back.’ That brand of baseball works well for us. We have a good pitching staff and ultimate faith in our bullpen. We want to get ahead early, hold it, and win a game.”

At the start of the season nobody saw this kind of year for the Guardians, probably because patience is hard to see.