We are SOOOOOOO Back!
I can’t tell if it’s the return of Hedgie and Cookie, if it’s the youth in our new manager, or just excitement for the new season, but the VIBES ARE IMMACULATE.
Over the 4 game set, 3 of which were in a rain storm, the entire dugout was on the top step yelling and cheering the whole game. There is a new “star of the game” tradition going on in the clubhouse where the stand-out Guardian of the day dons a gaudy WWE Guardians belt. Freeman went ballistic when he reached second on the first RBI hit of the year. I don’t know man, call me crazy, but this feels like a scrappy squad. We lost the fire last year, but it feels to me like in the infancy of 2024, the fire is burning white hot.
Well, the first stand is in the books! The Guards departed the Bay Area with 3 in the win column and one tough loss. Bieber made another heroic opening day start and we got an inside look at the type of manager Stephen may be. Here are my three takeaways from the first series of 2024.
THE BATS ARE ALIVE!
Holy moly! I think we can all agree that one of our biggest concerns this year is whether we can hit enough to score runs. Sure, we played the worst team in baseball, but they were major-league pitchers nonetheless and we had no trouble scoring. Believe it or not, Cleveland leads the majors in run differential at +18.
Another aspect worth mentioning, in game 1 the Guardians scored 6 runs with zero help from the top 3 of the order (Kwan, Jose, and Gime). Kwan and Jose woke up in the 9th to tack on some more, but my point stands, the rest of the boys are hitting.
2. Bieber is still that guy
Bieber looked as good as he ever has on Opening Day. He gave up 0 runs, 1 walk, punched out 11, and gave up 4 hits, two of them pretty cheap bloops. Perhaps even more exciting, he was hitting 94-95 on the gun. I see Bieber having a CY Young-worthy first half before I cry myself to sleep because we traded him for another shortstop. He just looked like young Biebs again. It was a blast to watch and if somehow you missed it, watch the game on MLB.tv because his outing was *Chef’s Kiss*.
3. Vogt will mix things up
There was a different lineup every game. Vogt mentioned he wanted to use the first series to give everyone a chance to play, so that may have played a part in it. But he also said his goal with every lineup is to beat the starting pitcher. So far, I’m impressed and intrigued. These lineups have made me scratch my head a few times but nothing as bad as Miles Straw starting almost every game last year. I’m a big fan of mixing it up and I feel like Vogt has some tricks up his sleeve this year. He put on a safety squeeze that didn’t end up panning out, but I’m about it. The Guardians lead the league in steals with 8 too so I think we are in for another year of Disgusting Baseball which is glorious.
BONUS: THE VIBES ARE IMMACULATE
I can’t tell if it’s the return of Hedgie and Cookie, if it’s the youth in our new manager, or just excitement for the new season, but the vibes are wild. Over the 4 game set, 3 of which were in a rain storm, the entire dugout was on the top step yelling and cheering the whole game. There is a new “star of the game” tradition going on in the clubhouse where the stand-out Guardian of the day dons a gaudy WWE Guardians belt. Freeman went ballistic when he reached second on the first RBI hit of the year. I don’t know man, call me crazy, but this feels like a scrappy squad. We lost the fire last year, but it feels to me like in the infancy of 2024, the fire is burning white hot.
RESULTS:
Guardians win the first 3 with a run diff of +19. They lost the last game on an implosion by Scott Barlow and Eli Morgan, however, they did come back to tie it 3-3 late in the game.
I hit on the over 5.5 steals (8), and the under on 1.5 errors (1). I did NOT have Steven Kwan hitting a bomb at the Coliseum on my bingo card so I dropped the ball on that one.