Is Cleveland Guardians' Season Actually On the Line Right Now?

The Cleveland Guardians are not exactly in a great spot heading into the week, as they have lost four games in a row and were just swept by the Cincinnati Reds to fall to 25-21.

The Guardians now sit in third place in the AL Central, and the Kansas City Royals are right behind them at 26-22. Cleveland could very well find itself in fourth place soon enough.

To make matters worse, the Detroit Tigers are starting to pull away from the pack, as they have opened up a five-game lead in the division and have shown no signs of slowing down.

Obviously, there is still plenty of time remaining in the regular season. It's only May, after all. But the Guardians need to start making a move, and that will be awfully difficult to do with the upcoming slate.

Cleveland will open up a three-game road series with the Minnesota Twins on Monday evening before heading to Detroit for four games against the Tigers. Then, the Guardians will return home to host the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Talk about an absolutely murderous schedule for a Cleveland squad that has been floundering of late, going just 2-6 over its last eight contests.

The Guardians must find a way to at least tread water over these next 10 games (which feature no off days, by the way) in order to lift (or maintain) their playoff hopes with the MLB trade deadline inching closer and closer.

To be clear, unless Cleveland goes something like 2-8 over this upcoming stretch, the Guardians won't be completely dead in the water. It's still too early for that, especially with there now being three Wild Card spots up for grabs.

However, for a Cleveland organization that is known for selling rather than buying, it's important for the Guardians to show the front office that they are capable of hanging with the big boys and that president Chris Antonetti should add pieces rather than subtract them before July 31.

By this time last year, Cleveland had already started to make its move. It sat at 30-17 on May 19, 2024, and it was in the midst of a nine-game winning streak.

Things are obviously different this time around, but the Guardians' 2024 core — aside from Josh Naylor, who Cleveland obviously misses — is still largely in place.

There is no reason to believe that the Guardians can't turn this thing around, but this week-and-a-half will ultimately serve as a tremendous litmus test for a Cleveland team that has been wildly inconsistent thus far in 2025.

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