3 things the Cleveland Guardians need to do better in the second half

The Cleveland Guardians are within striking distance but need to shore up these three areas of their game.

The Cleveland Guardians aren’t just the youngest team in the Majors but they are the youngest team in the Majors and Triple-A. That should tell you all you need to know about who this club is and what they’re about. The team is young, developing but still figuring out the long-term development of some of these guys.

That means inconsistency will pop up in the team from time to time.

The hope is that this inconsistency is cleared up in 2023 or 2024, and they’re just a juggernaut in every series, but that just isn’t where they are today. The hitting especially needs to be shored up but that’s not all, so these are three things that the Guardians can do better within the second half of the season.

Three things the Guardians need to do better within the second half of the season

Get more from their starters

The Cleveland Guardians starters are at times brilliant, other times pedestrian, and far too often a disaster. Three of them, Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, and Cal Quantrill do the work. Zach Plesac is all over the place and sometimes looks like a Cy Young talent and other times looks like the worst player on the team. The rest, well, we don’t need to talk about them. Yet, whether it’s the big three, Plesac, or the others, far too often, they all end up getting knocked out too early. Even if they’re pitching well, sometimes they don’t make it to the mound for the sixth inning. Yes, they didn’t have a training camp worth mentioning, but they’re over-relying on their bullpen, and that caused them to fall apart last year. The club can’t keep asking their pen to save them three or four times a week. The starters have got to be better and go longer.

Settle on a regular lineup(s)

This is a Terry Francona special, the “how many different combinations can I have in one season” idea. This year, it hasn’t been as bad, at least from what we’ve seen. That doesn’t mean he isn’t still tinkering with the 7th, 8th, and 9th spots in the lineup, but the first six spots seem largely settled. At least when Franmil Reyes isn’t in the lineup. Consistency in the lineup reinforces what players are expected to do, and helps generate a sense of expectations. Making adjustments out of necessity, like with Reyes or Myles Straw is one thing, but hopefully, we’re past the days of just experimenting with the lineup.

Getting the most of men on

I haven’t seen the stat for this yet, but if you were to tell me the Guardians were top five, or lead the league in most men left on base, I wouldn’t be surprised. The time of times I’ve seen the “LOB” stat has a 10+ next to it this year has been staggering and a bit upsetting. This is not a power-hitting team, yet this team doesn’t really play small-ball that well either. You’d think this team, which can get base-runners on nearly every inning would think long-term with scoring, and use small-ball techniques like bunting to help get a run. Even if it’s just one, if you can do this every inning or every other inning, you’ll still get five or so runs and with this pitching staff and bullpen, that’d be enough. Granted, not every inning or every player should worry about bunting but man, this club has got to do better with getting guys in to score.