One Major Reason For Cleveland Guardians' Second Half Slump

The Cleveland Guardians must take advantage of their scoring opportunities.

Jun 28, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (left) celebrates with first baseman Josh Naylor (right) after hitting a solo home run in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Guardians' were once considered one of baseball's best teams, with one of the top records in MLB. However, those days are long gone as their lead in the American League Central is down to just 1.0 game after having a 9.0 game lead in late June.

How does a team go from having one of the best run-manufacturing offenses in baseball to barely getting a runner around all four bases? It all comes down to situational hitting taking advanrage of having runners in scoring position.

Heading into the All-Star Break, the Guardians were batting .277 with an OPS of .827 with runners in scoring position. They were one of the best teams in baseball in this situation, and they took advantage of what felt like every runner on base.

Not to mention, they only struck out 17.8 percent of the time with RISP. They put the ball in play and let the game come to them.

However, that has flipped in the second half of the season. Now, Cleveland is only hitting .258 and slugging .425 with runners in scoring position since the All-Star Break.

It's been a grind for the Guardians even to get base runners, and now they aren't bringing them around when they have them on.

Aug 20, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) hits a two RBI single during the twelfth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland's loss in game one of their doubleheader with the Kansas City Royals is a perfect example of how this situational hitting has affected the Guardians' season. Cleveland found themselves with plenty of base runners thanks to Cole Ragans' command issues and the bullpen's struggle to get outs.

However, the Guardians only scored two earned runs in this game, hit .222 (2-for-9) with runners in scoring position, and left 11 men on base.

Cleveland hasn't lost the division yet. But they are going to need to get back at taking advantage of scoring oppurtunties if they want to be AL Central champions at the end of the season.