The trade deadline was a huge disappointment for Cleveland Guardians fans. We added some intriguing prospects, for sure, but "suffer for a little while longer and maybe things will be good in the future" is never a lot of fun. Even when it may be the best long-term move for the franchise, it doesn't take the sting out of watching our team fall out of the playoff hunt.
And with the deadline coming and going without any fun additions, the sting of Tuesday's game against the Houston Astros has fans' spirits especially low.
The offense looks completely dejected and as of writing is at risk of being no-hit by Framber Valdez. Fan reactions are about what you'd excpect;
A no hitter would put a bow and ribbon on the day. #ForTheLand
— ThreeInchLawyerman🇺🇸🌪 (@Director412) August 2, 2023
They might get no-hit tonight. With the way this season has gone, I'm almost rooting for it. #fortheland
— Retric (@retricrock) August 2, 2023
Who breaks the no hitter for the guardians? #fortheland
— CavsShowYo (@CavsShowYo) August 2, 2023
If the @CleGuardians play like this the rest of the way forget the Twins we gonna pass the Royals #fortheland
— swamppigeon (@swamppigeon1) August 2, 2023
If they’re no hit tonight I’m done with this team. They’re an unserious organization and I’m tired of wasting my time on them. #ForTheLand
— Sean (@Slance5289) August 2, 2023
And can you really blame them? In just a couple days we've gone from looking like we can really win the AL Central to becoming significant underdogs — and honestly at this point it feels like we should have even longer odds than +230.
We almost had a bright spot at the start of the game too, as Gavin Williams looked terrific through two innings, but he quickly fell apart too.
The Twins are up 1-0 on the Cardinals as I write this, and it's looking like we'll be a solid 2.0 games back by the time we all wake up on Wednesday morning.
The future is bright, and I don't want to under-sell that. I'm seriously hyped about Kevin Manzardo. We fleeced the Marlins in a trade that removed the looming threat of paying Josh Bell $16 million again and brought another interesting prospect. There's a real chance we're going to be favorites to win the AL Central next season.
But all of that feels so unsatisfying abstract when we're in a real race to win the division this season. We'll all come around on our exciting future in time, but for now Guardians fans' spirits are as low as I've seen them in quite some time.