Following one of the roughest weeks so far this season, the Guardians took last week to turn things around.
A not-awful week for the Guardians was all we could ask for after their atrocious week versus Cincinnati and Seattle. Luckily, that’s what they gave us.
Cecconi Finding Success
2025 has been nothing short of successful for newcomer Slade Cecconi. Acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in December as the return for Josh Naylor, Cecconi did not receive the warmest of welcome from fans. In addition to being the replacement for a fan favorite, he started the season on the IL. Finally activated on May 17th, he has had three fantastic starts for the Guardians, going 2-1 with the loss being a 1-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. His best start yet came on Sunday afternoon when he went seven innings. He gave up six hits, but did not give up a run, and earned the Guards a huge win against the Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas Athletics. So far this season, he has a 3.38 ERA with 37 strikeouts across 37.1 innings. He has proven himself a worthy starter and will hopefully only improve from here.
Back to Second
Thanks to a recent 2-11 skid by the Minnesota Twins, the Cleveland Guardians are back in second place in the American League Central. While there’s still a wide 8.5 game gap between the Guards and the first-place Detroit Tigers, their second-place spot has them only 0.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. Yes, it is only June and we do not need to be thinking about the Playoffs just yet, but the team is going to need to keep up this performance if they want to have a chance. Staying above .500 is vital, and they have been able to do that so far. This week’s three-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays will be huge as the Jays are currently in the second WC spot. If the Guards can win two of three, they will be sitting pretty for the rest of the month.
Ramírez Leading ASG Voting
As expected, José Ramírez is leading the voting for American League third basemen for the 2025 All-Star Game. With 1,780,631 votes as of Monday, he has over one million votes on second-place Alex Bregman. When (not if) he wins the start, it will mark his seventh All-Star Game appearance and fourth time as a starter. With Stephen Vogt selected to the coaching staff and Steven Kwan just 90,000 votes away from being selected as a starter, it could be a pretty great ASG in Atlanta for the Guardians.