By the numbers: Anatomy of the Guardians' 10-game losing streak

New York Times

3 days ago

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians have lost 10 consecutive games. If you're the type of person who can't look away when driving past a car crash, this article might be for you. Let's dive into the numbers stemming from this rancid funk.
That's the team's OPS, which ranks 28th in the majors, ahead of only the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox. As a team, the Guardians own a .224/.295/.361 slash line.
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(In case you were wondering and, no, you're probably not and, yes, the run environments were completely different and, yes, this is the furthest thing from a fair comparison, but: The 1995 Cleveland Indians had a team slash line of .291/.361/.479. That team, of course, had Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez hitting sixth and seventh. This team has Johnathan Rodriguez and Will Wilson doing so.)
Anyway, Cleveland's .656 OPS is the worst the team has mustered since 1972. If we use wRC+, which takes into account the league's run environment, the 2025 Guardians check in at 86 (or 14 percent below league average). In the last 50 years, the only season in which Cleveland has had a worse team wRC+ is 1991, when it was 85. That year, the team moved the fences back at Municipal Stadium, scored the fewest runs in baseball and racked up a league-high and franchise-record 105 losses. Sandy Alomar Jr. referred to the cavernous venue that year as 'a graveyard.' The club hit a grand total of 22 home runs in 82 home dates.
Again, this is the company the 2025 team is keeping.
Hey, at least two members of this team's starting lineup are All-Stars. What about the rest of the lineup? If we remove Steven Kwan and José Ramírez from the equation, here's the team's slash line: .202/.276/.334.
That's a .610 OPS. The qualified hitter with the OPS closest to .610 this season is Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies (.606). That ranks 150th out of 157 qualified hitters.
In other words, the average hitter the Guardians are trotting out there — aside from Kwan and Ramírez, so seven out of nine spots in their order — is equal to the eighth-worst hitter in the league.
'Anytime we're in a big spot, Kwan and José, those are our guys,' said manager Stephen Vogt. 'There's no secret there. It's a lot of pressure on them a lot of times, but they step up and they rise to the occasion and they pick the boys up.'
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That's the total number of runs the Guardians have scored during their skid. Six of those runs — 40 percent — came in one inning, nine days ago against the St. Louis Cardinals, when it seemed like the Guardians were releasing a whole bunch of pent-up frustration at the plate en route to salvaging their season. Not quite.
They have been shut out in half of those 10 defeats.
On Thursday, they allowed one run on three hits in 10 innings against the Chicago Cubs. They lost.
On Friday, they allowed two runs on seven hits against the Detroit Tigers. They lost.
On Saturday, they allowed one run on two hits against the Tigers. They lost.
On Sunday, they allowed one run on one hit through nine innings against the Tigers. They lost.
(This is like the opposite of the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.)
This streak has stretched 92 innings. The Guardians have scored in only eight of those 92.
That number was 7-of-91 before they scored in the bottom of the 10th on Sunday, on a groundout and sacrifice fly, while trailing by six, thanks to the free baserunner rule.
That's the number of regular-season home runs Cade Smith had allowed in 112 big-league appearances … until Sunday, when he surrendered a pair of opposite-field home runs that left-handed hitters socked over the 19-foot-high fence at Progressive Field. The only other player to take him deep during the regular season? Seattle Mariners utility player Dylan Moore, in June 2024. Smith looked untouchable on Saturday night when he averaged 98.6 mph on 13 fastballs and induced four whiffs on six swings. The velocity was up again Sunday (97.7 mph), but he didn't miss bats with his heater.
Before that outing Sunday, Smith's numbers looked pretty similar to his ones from last season.
2024: 1.91 ERA, 1.40 FIP, 6.1 H/9, 2.0 BB/9, 12.3 K/9
2025: 2.23 ERA, 1.19 FIP, 6.7 H/9, 3.2 BB/9, 14.1 K/9
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Despite that rough outing, the pitching has not been a problem for Cleveland in recent weeks. Even with Luis Ortiz's, uh, vacation, the rotation has trended upward. Every Cleveland pitcher must feel the weight of 1,000 woolly mammoths when attempting to keep the score close.
That's the number of consecutive games in which Chase DeLauter has reached base at Triple-A Columbus. It's become a meme at this point. This is a front office that has salivated over DeLauter's bat since spring 2024 when he wowed them so much that they kept him around until the very end of big-league camp. This is an offense that desperately needs a jolt. This seems like a perfect marriage.
And yet, the Guardians have refused to deviate from their original plan for DeLauter once he suffered an injury four months ago. So, he continues to log at-bats in the minors and increase his endurance (which he could do in the majors, too) as the Guardians continue to try the same players in the same, futile spots. Surely, one prized prospect can't transform a wholly ineffective lineup, but refusing to promote him is like declining a snack because it would only partially quell your rumbling stomach.
That's the number of years since Cleveland has suffered a losing streak of this length. It's the 12th double-digit losing streak in team history, the fifth in the last half-century.
The franchise record is 12 consecutive losses, set in May 1931. That team finished with a winning record (78-76).
In 2012, Cleveland dropped 11 straight, starting in late July, which launched the Month From Hell, in which the club amassed an August record of 5-24. That 2012 losing streak reached nine on a 10-inning Sunday matinee against the Tigers (sound familiar?) when Chris Perez failed to protect a three-run lead and Miguel Cabrera slugged a walk-off homer.
That season was rock bottom for the club. It cost manager Manny Acta his job. It resulted in the hiring of Terry Francona and the overhauling of how the organization operates. Will this precipitous fall bring any change?