{"id":848244,"date":"2026-08-08T18:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848244\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:10:09","slug":"guardians-remaining-strength-of-schedule-easiest-of-all-30-mlb-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848244\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardians\u2019 remaining strength of schedule easiest of all 30 MLB teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, with the Cavs down 3-0 to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals in May, surprised the basketball world when he said the analytics showed the Cavs were actually winning the series, two games to one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think analytically, I think we\u2019ve won the \u2014 I said three out of three, we\u2019re two out of three in the expected wins,\u201d Atkinson said after a practice ahead of Game 4. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you guys follow that \u2014 the expected score. We\u2019ve won two out of three.\u201d<\/p>\n

No type of twisted analytics could help the Cavaliers in Game 4. The Knicks obliterated them, 130-99, at Rocket Arena to complete the sweep.<\/p>\n

Using Atkinson\u2019s logic, the Guardians should make the playoffs no matter what the final standings show because their strength of schedule for the remaining 45 games is the easiest<\/a> any of Major League Baseball\u2019s 30 teams will face in the balance of the regular season. Of course, they were swept out of Progressive Field by the 51-66 Mets in a three-game series to end a miserable homestand on Aug. 6, so nothing is guaranteed.<\/p>\n

The Guardians started a three-game series with\u00a0 White Sox in Chicago on Aug. 7 by winning, 8-2, to improve to 58-59 and trim Chicago\u2019s lead in the AL Central to two games. The Guards are a half-game out of the third and final wild-card spot in the American League. Fourteen series will remain when they depart Chicago for three games with the Tigers in Detroit.<\/p>\n

Here is where it becomes favorable for the Guardians. They host the Padres (currently 60-57), after facing the Tigers (56-60). After that, they host the San Francisco Giants, fourth in the NL West at 49-67, then hit the road to play the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels before closing out August in a home series with the Kansas City Royals. The Rockies (45-71) are last in the NL West, the Angels (45-71) are last in the AL West, and the Royals (48-69) are last in the AL Central.<\/p>\n

The September schedule starts with three home games against the 55-62 Blue Jays, the cellar dwellers in the AL East. Three home games with the Tigers are next, followed by three road games in Baltimore (56-60) and three against the Twins (58-59) in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

The Central Division standings might look different in five weeks, but what could be a showdown three-game series with the White Sox at Progressive Field begins Sept. 14 followed by three with the Athletics, who are tied with the Angels for last in the AL West. The Guardians finish on the road with three games in Boston and three in Kansas City.<\/p>\n

To sum it up, only three of the remaining opponents \u2014 the Padres, White Sox and Red Sox (64-51) \u2013 have winning records.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Many things from the Guardians this season are difficult to fathom. Their record at Progressive Field is one of them. The Guards are 30-28 on the road and 28-31 at home. They haven\u2019t finished with a losing record at Progressive Field since 2021, when they finished 80-82 and in second place in the division, 13 games behind the White Sox. The Guardians were 40-41 at home in 2021.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know that<\/p>\n

\u2026 until I read my Snapple bottle cap<\/p>\n

The observable universe has a diameter of an estimated 92 billion light years. \u2026 The popular belief that giraffes have no vocal cords is untrue. Giraffes communicate at night by humming quietly within their herd. \u2026 The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. \u2026 Meerkats look cute in the zoo, but the queen meerkat in a clan kills the offspring of her rivals so her own have the best chance of surviving. \u2026 The state motto of Ohio is \u201cWith God, all things are possible.\u201d\u2026 Lake Superior is the world\u2019s largest lake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, with the Cavs down 3-0 to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5258,3914,591,85],"class_list":["post-848244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}