Cleveland Guardians' hot spring deserves to be noticed | Oller Second Thoughts
There is a tendency among those who pay attention to baseball as if it is department store background music to think the Cleveland Guardians have not been good since they went by another nickname.
This is not true, of course, but even I admit that sometimes my brain defaults to 2016 when discussing the Guards (which is not what anyone really calls them, but it has always been my belief that every nickname needs a nickname).
You remember 2016? Fun team. World Series. Cubbies (blech). Rajai Davis home run. Rain delay. Heartbreak.
Cleveland also reached the postseason in 2017 and 2018, but bowed out in the ALDS to New York (3-2) and Houston (3-0), which was one year after the Astros were caught cheating. Maybe they still were? Ask Michigan.
More Rob Oller: Scottie Scheffler wins PGA Championship in my revisionist history | Oller Second Thoughts
The Guardians, formerly known by a nickname that has gone into the dust bin, also lost both AL wild card games to the Yankees in 2020 and the ALDS to the Pinstripes (more nicknames!) in 2022.
Cleveland’s recent history, then, is salted with some semblance of success. Yet 2016 still sticks in the craw, just like 1995 and 1997, when frustrated fans commiserated through World Series losses to Atlanta and store-bought Florida. Yes, the ghost of Jose Mesa still haunts.
Why fixate on World Series losses when Cleveland has been pretty darn good since 1994? I mean, Cincinnati fans would love to enjoy a deep playoff run every now and then. Or any playoff run. (Note: Reds fans deserve better). I contend that the obsession with 1995, 1997 and 2016 can be traced to 1948, the last time Cleveland won a World Series. When you’ve waited so long to win it all, the near misses are not exorcized so easily.
It also explains why it feels like the 2024 Guardians are being overlooked. Fool me once, shame on you. Twice? That’s a me problem. But any apprehension to buy into what Cleveland is selling is understandable. Fans have been let down so often the rappelling rope is worn through.
But since there is no crying in baseball, Guardians fans carry on with stiff upper lips and soft hearts full of hope that next year will be the one.
Well, guess what? Next year is here. The Guardians are for real. At least for now. Cleveland owns the best record in the American League (37-18), which also is its best record entering June in the team’s 124-year-history. They have won nine of their past 10. Impressive.
It’s fair to wonder if the good times will last. Pitching was going to be a strength this season, until injuries to Shane Bieber and Gavin Williams made the Guardians thin on the mound. Bieber is out for the season following Tommy John surgery. Williams is soon to return, having been sidelined since March with elbow soreness. Yet despite depth issues, the Guardians are holding it together with a team ERA (3..44) that ranks eighth in MLB.
Hitting, especially with power, was not supposed to be as good as it has been. But Cleveland ranks fifth in the AL in home runs. Not bad at all. Jose Ramirez (16) and Josh Naylor (15) have combined for 31 homers. Ramirez leads the AL with 56 RBIs. Naylor is third with 40. The team’s .236 batting average is middle of the AL pack.
This team is fun to watch. Cleveland fans cross their fingers that the surprising spring bleeds into a super summer and fantastic fall. Regardless, the Guardians are more than background noise.
Buckeyes experience ‘hooray’ then heartbreak
The Ohio State men’s golf team came one unlucky bounce from likely playing for the NCAA championship Wednesday in Carlsbad, California.
The Buckeyes were tied with Auburn at two wins apiece in Tuesday’s match-play semifinal, with OSU senior Adam Wallin going to a sudden death extra holes playoff against Tigers freshman Jackson Koivun to decide the match.
Koivun led Wallin 2-up with two holes to play in regulation, but Wallin rallied to tie the match and force extra holes. Each player made par on the first two playoff holes – No. 16 and 17 – but Koivun’s par at 17 got help from a TV tower behind the green that stopped his ball from diving into the rough. Afforded a free drop, he managed to get up-and-down to send the playoff to No. 18.
Wallin’s approach shot at 18 landed in the rough, short of the green. Koivun’s approach found a greenside bunker. Wallin pitched past the hole and he missed the birdie putt. Koivin blasted to 5 feet and made the birdie putt to seal the win.
Ohio State, the No. 8 seed, gave No. 1 Auburn all it could handle. The Tigers play Florida State Wednesday in the final.
“It was quite an unusual season in a lot of ways,” OSU coach Jay Moseley said. “There were points in the spring where we had some adversity that we didn’t handle so well and just didn’t play the way we expect. I knew it would come together at some point.”
The loss to Auburn ended the careers of seniors Wallin, Jackson Chandler, Neal Shipley and Maxwell Moldovan, who finished with the lowest career scoring average in school history (71.25). Wallin placed eighth at NCAAs as an individual, the first OSU golfer to finish in the top 10 since 1995. It was the team’s first top-four finish since 1997.
Listening in
“I said, ‘Hey, man, I ain’t doing this tonight. I can’t.’ He goes, ‘Don’t worry about it. I don’t even need you. I’m just going to sit down here at the table.’ He had a bottle of whiskey and said, ‘I’ll be here when you wake up.’ And he was.” – Larry Bird, recalling when Bill Walton showed up at his door to celebrate Boston’s 1986 NBA championship.
Off-topic
I’ve traveled across the United States enough to lock in my five must-see metropolitan areas; places that are like no other. (Caveat: I have not visited Salt Lake City, which I hear is breathtaking. And Las Vegas is totally different, but you can get a feel for it by visiting New York’s Times Square)
New York. Stand at the bottom of Central Park and look south. You’ll know why it makes the list. No other place matches Manhattan for towering spectacle.
Seattle. The city itself is nothing extraordinary, but the view of Puget Sound with car-carrying ferries frothing the waters is spellbinding.
New Orleans. The Crescent City is one of a kind. From Bourbon Street to Cafe du Monde to the French-Spanish architecture, Nawlins is special.
San Francisco. The City by the Bay is gorgeous inside and out. Inside: the multicolored huddled housing. Outside: spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge, bay and Pacific Ocean. And the hilly terrain cannot be copied.
Washington D.C.: It is impossible to stand on the National Mall and not be impressed with the history and gravitas of the nation’s capital.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cleveland Guardians lead division; Ohio State Buckeyes golf just short
