Cleveland Guardians receive a Brutal ranking in the Vital category

The Cleveland Guardians won the AL Central division and are entering the postseason, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have major concerns.

First and foremost is their starting pitching, which has been among the worst in baseball all season.

Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter ranked each team/player’s playoff starting rotation (the standings have yet to be fully determined) for October and ranked the Guardians 12th out of 13.

Reuter projects Cleveland to add Tanner Bibee and then acquire Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb (if healthy) as their top three players midseason. Ben Lively took fourth place.

Cobb hasn’t played since September 1 with a blister, so his spot in the rotation will obviously depend on whether he makes a full recovery.

While Bibee has been excellent throughout the year, there is no doubt that the rest of the Guardians’ rotation is full of question marks, especially considering Cobb only appeared in three games in 2024.

Cleveland has thrived thanks to its historically great bullpen, as Reuter notes in his article. Until the Rangers’ starters get fired up, the relief pitchers should at least be able to keep Cleveland in the game.

However, it’s definitely a little scary to face the best attackers in the league with such an unstable starting rotation.

Perhaps the Guardians would have been better off going with Lively – who has been reliable all season – rather than Cobb, but we’ll see what Stephen Vogt decides to do.