Tag / Guardians

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Looking Ahead To 2023

With about six weeks remaining in the 2022 season, Major League Baseball released their tentative 2023 schedule on Wednesday.  For the first time in years, MLB is moving to a balanced schedule, playing 52 games against division opponents, 64 games against non-division opponents in the same league, and, for the first time, 46 interleague games, with series against every team in the opposite league.  With the White Sox looking to bounce back after what has been a disappointing 2022 campaign to date and the Cubs looking to take the next step forward in their rebuild, the 2023 season looks to be an exciting time in the city of Chicago.  So, for one day, at least, let’s turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

The White Sox open their season on the road in Houston on March 30 for a four-game series against the Astros before returning home to face the Giants in their home opener on April 3.

Aside from the Giants, the new interleague schedule sees the Phillies, Marlins, Cardinals, Brewers, Diamondbacks, and Padres travelling to Chicago, while the White Sox will go on the road to face the Pirates, Reds, Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Rockies, and Nationals. The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a two-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field in late July followed by a mid-August tilt at Wrigley.

After facing AL Central foes only for the first half of September, the season ends with a six-game homestand against the Diamondbacks and the Padres.

On the north side, the Cubs also open their season on March 30, facing the Brewers at home.  After a 3-game series, they head out on the road.

The interleague schedule pits the Cubs against the Rangers, Mariners, Orioles, Guardians, Red Sox, and Royals at Wrigley, while they go on the road to face the A’s, Twins, Angels, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Tigers.

Of their 28 games in September/October, only nine are against their NL Central rivals, though, with the Cubs not likely to contend, that shouldn’t make much of a difference.  They end the year with a six-game road trip against the Braves and Brewers.

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A Deafening Thud

Last year, the Cubs and the White Sox made a lot of noise at the trade deadline, making six deals involving stars like Craig Kimbrel, Javy Baez, Anthony Rizzo, and Kris Bryant.  With the White Sox looking to make a move to overtake the Twins and Guardians in the AL Central and the Cubs looking to further divest themselves of championship pieces like Willson Contreras and Ian Happ, this year’s deadline was sure to be a wild and crazy time.  It wasn’t.

Sure, each time made some small moves, with the Cubs emptying out their bullpen of anyone with a pulse and the White Sox adding a bullpen arm, but those expected big moves didn’t happen.  Willson Contreras, a free agent at year’s end, is still a Cub.  It is safe to say nobody had this on their bingo card.

So where do we go from here?  For the White Sox, Rick Hahn and company have to hope that getting their stars healthy provides enough of a boost to sneak into the postseason for a third consecutive year.  On the north side of town, things are a little stickier.  By not trading Contreras, he will play out the year and will likely be given a qualifying offer heading into free agency, which, at best, will cost him money and, at worst, could leave him sitting at home well into the start of the 2023 season.  Ian Happ is under team control for another year, so, short of an offseason deal, he will go through this same dance next July.

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2022 All Star Break Standings

For the first time since 1980, the Midsummer Classic returns to Los Angeles and Dodger Stadium.  As the stars of the baseball world gather in Tinsletown, it’s time to take a look at the team records for the 21 games, featuring exactly half of the teams in the league, that I attended in the first half of the baseball season, a disappointing one, for different reasons, on both sides of town.

2022 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Los Angeles Dodgers 2 0 1.000
Texas Rangers 1 0 1.000
New York Mets 1 0 1.000
Cleveland Guardians 1 0 1.000
Baltimore Orioles 1 0 1.000
New York Yankees 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 10 8 0.556
Minnesota Twins 1 1 0.500
Chicago Cubs 2 5 0.286
Continue reading →
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Mornings With The Peacock

On the heels of last month’s announcement of an exclusive streaming deal with Apple TV+, MLB announced another streaming deal, this time with Peacock, owned by NBC.  Worth an estimated $30 million to the poor MLB owners, the deal gives Peacock an exclusive window on Sunday mornings through 12:30 PM CT.  Games will begin at 10:30 CT through June 12, then move to an 11 AM start time for the remainder of the season.  In addition, Peacock will be the exclusive home of the Futures Game during All Star festivities and will also feature classic MLB games, award-winning documentaries from the MLB Film & Video Archive, and highlight packages available on-demand in a new MLB hub.

The Peacock slate kicks off on May 8 with the White Sox visiting the Red Sox and will be simulcast on NBC.  The south siders make an additional appearance in August while visiting the Guardians.  The Cubs, meanwhile, make their sole appearance while visiting the Phillies in July.  It is a shame that all three of these games are on the road.  It would be interesting to attend a game with an 11:00 (or earlier) start.

As I said last month, I see MLB expanding its reach into the streaming world to be a good thing.  Some will say that with these new exclusive deals, MLB is spreading their product around a little too much and they do have a point.  In order to watch every White Sox game this season as it happens, one would have to have access to NBC Sports Chicago, FOX, FS1, ESPN, Apple TV+. and Peacock.  That’s a lot of different services.  But how many fans actually try to watch every single game?  For the casual fan, MLB having a wide footprint can only be a good thing as they try to build the next generation of hard-core fans.

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Against The Indians All Time Leaders – Through 2021

In the past, we’ve looked at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. This offseason, we will take our first ever look at those leaders against all 30 clubs.  We continue today with the former Cleveland Indians.

The Indians, then known as the Bluebirds, were one of the charter members of the American League in 1901.  After a few name changes, they settled on the Indians name in 1915 before finally deciding to change again, becoming the Guardians starting this upcoming season.  I’ve seen them play 58 times, including games 4 and 5 of the 2016 World Series at Wrigley Field and 2 games against the White Sox in their home stadium in September of 2019.

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 12
Jim Thome 4
Adam Eaton 3
Alex Rios 3
Alexei Ramirez 3
Seby Zavala 3
Jose Abreu 3

Hits

Name Total
Paul Konerko 38
A.J. Pierzynski 27
Alexei Ramirez 26

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 23
Alejandro de Aza 13
Gordon Beckham 13

RBI

Name Total
Paul Konerko 28
Alexei Ramirez 13
Alex Rios 10
Jim Thome 10

Doubles

Name Total
Paul Konerko 7
A.J. Pierzynski 6
Tim Anderson 4
Alejandro de Aza 4
Gordon Beckham 4

Triples Continue reading →

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Tribe No More

On Friday, the franchise in Cleveland officially changed their name from Indians, which dates back to 1915, to Guardians, inspired by a pair of stone monuments a quarter of a mile away from Progressive Field, ending years of controversy and resistance.  I’ve seen the Indians 58 times over the years, first in 1987 at old Comiskey Park and last at Guaranteed Rate Field this past July.  In between, I saw them at two other ballparks, Games 4 & 5 of the 2016 World Series at Wrigley Field and the final two games of a September series against the White Sox at their home stadium of Progressive Field in 2019.

All-Time Team Records
Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Cleveland Indians 31 27 0.534
Chicago Cubs 1 1 0.500
Chicago White Sox 26 30 0.464

The Guardians are scheduled to make their first trip to Chicago in early May for a 3 game series against the White Sox, starting a new chapter of Cleveland baseball history.

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Keeping Our Eyes On Next Year’s Prize

With a little more than 8 weeks remaining in the 2020 season, Major League Baseball released their tentative 2021 schedule yesterday.  For the first time in quite a while, the White Sox will be looking to compete for a title while the Cubs will be “retooling” after trading off all of their stars last week.  Assuming, of course, that the 2022 season goes off as planned and the end of the collective bargaining agreement doesn’t lead to a long work stoppage.  So, for one day, at least, let’s turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

The White Sox open their season at home against the Twins on March 31 for a three game tilt before heading on the road.  Nothing like a potential snowstorm to get the season off to a good start.  They face the Guardians for the first time on April 18 in Cleveland.

The interleague schedule pits the White Sox against the NL West, with trips to San Francisco, Colorado, and San Diego and home series against the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Rockies. The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a 2-game series at Wrigley at the beginning of May and a follow-up at Guaranteed Rate Field Memorial Day weekend.

The season ends with a 6 game road trip to Minnesota and San Diego.

On the north side, the Cubs open their season up on the road in Cincinnati, also on March 31.  They come home the following Monday to open their home slate against the Cardinals.

The interleague schedule pits the Cubs against the AL East, with trips to Baltimore, New York, and Toronto and home series against the Rays, Red Sox, and Orioles.

Of their 28 games in September/October, only 7 are against their NL Central rivals, though, with the Cubs not likely to contend, that shouldn’t make much of a difference.  They end the year with a 6 game homestand, facing the Phillies and the Reds.

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Indians No More

After years of controversy and resistance, the Cleveland Indians announced today that they will officially be changing their name to the Cleveland Guardians starting with the 2022 season.  The Indians name dates back to 1915, when the team, then known as the Naps, was looking to rebrand following the departure of Nap Lajoie.  The Guardians name was inspired by a pair of stone monuments, the Guardians of Traffic, along the Hope Memorial Bridge a quarter of a mile away from Progressive Field.

The Indians name and its Chief Wahoo logo have long been criticized for perpetuating Native American stereotypes. In 2015, team owner Paul Dolan acknowledged that there were critics, the team had no plans to change either its name or its logo.  On January 29, 2018, however, Major League Baseball announced that Chief Wahoo would be removed from the Indians’ uniforms as of the 2019 season, stating that the logo was no longer appropriate for on-field use.  In completely unrelated news, Cleveland hosted the All Star game in 2019.  Last July, following a similar move by the Washington Football team, the Indians announced that they would “determine the best path forward” regarding the team’s name and, in December, the team announced they would drop the Indians name following the 2021 season.