N&N: It’s the final countdown: Opening Day only a week away

Mar 23, 2023 - 1:00 PM

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In a mere week — seven days, 13 hours, and 10 minutes from the time this is posted, to be exact — the Cleveland Guardians will take the field at T-Mobile Park to open their season against the Seattle Mariners. Shane Bieber will be on the mound, José Ramírez will be swagger-walking his way out to the batter’s box, and baseball will be underway.

We’re in the final stretch of a surprisingly pleasant offseason, with the Guardians making some additions and not trading away any fan-favorite players to rile up the fanbase. An extension or two would be nice before the team departs for the Great North West, but for now, the team looks just about set and they look like the same fun group that carried the hearts of Cleveland all the way to the brink of the ALCS last year.

The team had an off-day yesterday, but tonight they’ll take on the Giants. After that, it’s five more spring games before full attention turns to the regular season and Opening Day.

Since it’s a Slow News Day™️, how about we open it up as a question? What are your plans for Opening Day, seeing as the team won’t be playing their first game until 10 p.m. on a Thursday? Staying up anyway and waking up after a short nap to go to work? Taking Friday off? Are you someone living on the West Coast who will finally get to watch their favorite team in a normal primetime slot? Let’s hear it.

Today’s baseball: @ Giants, 9:05 p.m. ET

Cleveland Guardians news

Dr. Sticks and the Return of the Splitter | The New York Times
Tyler Kepner is looking for breakout Cy Young candidates, so naturally, he lands on Triston McKenzie. Don’t be fooled by the awkward title though, he’s not the one working on a splitter here.

Guardians’ Andres Gimenez returns from World Baseball Classic, calls it ‘incredible’ | Cleveland

“It was incredible,” said Gimenez. “It’s something like I’ve never experienced before in my life. It’s very different to represent your country, your culture and to see that many fans cheering for you. Especially with the type of games we were playing.”

Cleveland Guardians could get most out of Amed Rosario in contract year | Away Back Gone
Everybody wins if Amed Rosario has a big season in Cleveland.

This Week in Guardians Baseball: Prospect Cumulative Rankings | WFNY
The folks over at Waiting for Next Year wrapped up their top prospect list recently, and earlier this week dropped a cumulative list of a few other rankings, including the Covering the Corner community rankings.

2023 Positional Power Rankings: Third Base | FanGraphs
Nolan Arenado and the Cardinals narrowly beat out the Guardians here, even with Gabriel Arias adding a nice little bump to José Ramírez projected 5.5 fWAR. Before you start writing angry letters, remember this is based on WAR projections, and there’s a 0.1 difference between the Cardinals and Guardians. That’s little more than a rounding error for WAR calculations.

Around the league

• José Altuve is officially shut down for at least two months following thumb surgery.
• Can Shohei Ohtani be even better?