2025 Cleveland Guardians

2025 Cleveland Guardians / Franchise: Cleveland Guardians / BR Team Page

Record: 88-74, Finished 1st in AL Central Division (2025 AL)

Managed by Stephen Vogt

Coaches: Craig Albernaz, Sandy Alomar, Junior Betances, Kai Correa, Jason Esposito, Grant Fink, Brad Goldberg, Caleb Longshore, Rouglas Odor, Dan Puente, Agustin Rivero, Joe Torres and Carl Willis

Ballpark: Progressive Field

History, Comments, Contributions

The 2025 Cleveland Guardians came into the season with high expectations after reaching the ALCS the year before and giving the juggernaut New York Yankees a run for their money during that series. However, their major off-season moves had been more akin to substractions than additions, as they had traded their starting first baseman, and one of their most productive hitters, Josh Naylor, to the Arizona Diamondbacks in return for an unproven starting pitcher in Slade Cecconi, and their starting second baseman, Andrés Giménez, along with useful reliever Nick Sandlin, to the Toronto Blue Jays in return for 1B Spencer Horwitz and a minor leaguer, with Horwitz being immediately flipped to the Pittsburgh Pirates for P Luis Ortiz and two more minor leaguers. They did sign veteran 1B Carlos Santana to take over Naylor's spot, but at 39 it wasn't clear that he could still be a contributor, and in fact, he was released at the end of August after hitting just .225 in 116 games with an OPS+ well below 100. Thus, the Guardians would have to rely on their own strengths to move forward.

The season started well enough with Cleveland going 17-13 in March and April, and while they were one game above .500 in May, their division rivals the Detroit Tigers took off during the month and by May 31st, the Guardians were still in second place, but trailing by six games. They then had a brutal month in June, going 9-16, and by July 1st, not only was first place seemingly an impossible objective - they were 11 1/2 games back -, but just staying in the wild card race was no longer a given, as they had fallen to two games below .500. They still had some productive players on the team, with 3B José Ramírez and LF Steven Kwan both making the All-Star team on merit, but by the time the trading deadline came around at the end of July, the Guardians were considered to be sellers, with many teams salivating at the thought of Kwan possibly being on the market. However, the Guardians had by then stopped their slide, playing a couple of games above .500 during the month to finish July at 54-54. They were back in second place in the AL Central, but still 9 games back of the Tigers, who had had a poor month. Their biggest move at the deadline ended up being the trade of their former ace, Shane Bieber, who was still in the minor leagues recovering from Tommy John surgery the previous season, to the Blue Jays for a solid pitching prospect, but not one who was likely to help this year or next. Worse, on July 28th, two of their pitchers, closer Emmanuel Clase and Ortiz were placed on indefinite leave by Major League Baseball because of an investigation on sports betting; they would not play again that season. At least, the team did not conduct a fire sale, hanging on to Kwan and other potentially valuable assets, because the wild card was not completely out of the picture.

August was another month in while Cleveland spun its wheels, not losing any ground by going 14-13, but also not gaining any with the season winding down. Their biggest decision was to cut ties with Santana, as mentioned above, as he was simply not contributing enough offense as a regular first baseman. They were still 10 1/2 games out of first place on August 31st. They then lost three of their first four games in September, and it looked like it was time to write their obituary, but instead, they caught fire. They won 15 of their next 16 games, including ten in a row from September 11-20th. On the 20th, they swept a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins at Target Field by recording a shutout in both ends of the twinbill. They had not pulled off such a feat (a doubleheader shutout) since 1964! Incredibly, at the end of that day, they had shrunk their deficit with the Tigers to just one game. They lost the next day, 6-2 to the Twins, but so did Detroit and the Houston Astros, so that at the end of the day they were still one game back of Detroit but had caught Houston for the final wild card slot, and held the tiebreaker over them. Even better, they had their fate in their own hands, as they were set to host the Tigers for a three-game series at Progressive Field starting on September 23rd, and would conclude the season with another three-game series at home, this one against the Texas Rangers, who were for all intents and purposes already eliminated from postseason contention.

The first game of the momentous series against the Tigers on September 23rd ended in a 5-2 win for Cleveland. This moved the Guardians into a first-place tie - something that looked impossible less than a month earlier - and also guaranteed them a win on the season series, and therefore gave them the tiebreaker if the two teams were to finished tied. In that game, they were held scoreless through the first five innings by Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, but in in the 6th, a leadoff bunt single by Kwan was followed by Skubal misplaying an attempted sacrifice bunt by Angel Martinez for an error. That opened the floodgates as Cleveland scored three runs in that inning and another two in the 7th to win the game. The 15 1/2 game deficit they had managed to overcome to take over first place was the largest ever, beating the "Miracle Braves" of 1914, who had been 15 games back at one point, and the 1978 New York Yankees, who had trailed the Boston Red Sox by 14 games. By winning again, 5-1, on September 24th, Cleveland took a one-game lead. They lost the series' final game, 4-2, so they were back in a tie with Detroit with three games left to play - although they held the all-important tiebreaker. They confirmed their place in the postseason on September 27th, with a win over Texas that came on a walk-off hit-by-pitch. Rookie C.J. Kayfus was the one who took one for the team - literally - with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th to drive in the winning run in a 3-2 victory. Detroit won that day as well, to also confirm its place in the postseason (Houston was the team that fell short), but the winner of the division title was only determined on the season's final day, when Cleveland won in extra innings and Detroit lost. The result of winning the division title was that they would face a familiar opponent - Detroit - in the Wild Card Series.

Awards and Honors

• All-Stars: Steven Kwan and José Ramírez
• AL Gold Glove: Steven Kwan (LF)
• AL Silver Slugger Award: José Ramírez (3B)
• AL Manager of the Year Award: Stephen Vogt

Further Reading

• "Guardians announce 2025 uniform changes", mlb.com, November 15, 2024. [1]
• Anthony Castrovince: "Do Guards have a height preference for position players? The short answer is ...", mlb.com, February 18, 2025. [2]
• Pat Donnelly: "Guardians 1 game out of 1st, grab WC spot after 10th straight win: Cleveland blanks Twins in back-to-back games for 1st doubleheader shutout since 1964", mlb.com, September 20, 2025. [3]
• Pat Donnelly: "'The boys are ready': Guardians eye pivotal Tigers set with AL Central on the line", mlb.com, September 21, 2025. [4]
• Tim Stebbins: "Crazy 6th inning helps Guards stun Tigers, grab 1st place: Cleveland clinches season series, secures tiebreaker vs. Detroit if they finish with same record", mlb.com, September 24, 2025. [5]
• Tim Stebbins: "Walk-off HBP (!) sends Guardians to postseason, punctuating remarkable run", mlb.com, September 28, 2025. [6]
• Tim Stebbins: "Guardians win AL Central title, finishing off comeback of the century", mlb.com, September 28, 2025. [7]

2025 MLB season by team