Guardians Must Taken Advantage Of Series With Pirates

The Cleveland Guardians have an opportunity to create some separation in the American League Central.

Aug 7, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor (22) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the fifth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

We've reached the point of the season where every game matters. The calendar is about to turn to September, and there are 28 games left in the regular season. It's time for the Cleveland Guardians to lock in if they want to win another American League Central crown.

All of this starts on Friday night, as the Guardians are set to open a three-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Progressive Field. Cleveland must take advantage of the series if it wants to maintain its pace in the playoff picture.

The Pirates have shown flashes this season of what their young core looks like, but they just haven't had enough offense to keep themselves in playoff contention. Pittsburgh's season OPS is a .678, which is bottom five in baseball.

Given that they aren't the greatest offensive team, this could be a great opportunity for the starting rotation of Ben Lively, Matthew Boyd, and Alex Cobb to get on track.

Aug 25, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) breaks his bat on a pitch during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Looking at the offense, Cleveland is lucky that they'll miss seeing Pittsburgh's two top pitchers, rookie sensations Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. Instead, the Pirates' probably pitchers are Bailey Falter (4.25 ERA), Luis Ortiz (3.36 ERA), and Mitch Keller (3.84 ERA).

That's still a solid trio, but Cleveland's offense should perform well against a left-handed starter and two fastball-heavy pitchers.

Looking at things on a broader scale, the Kansas City Royals, who are 1.5 games back of the Guardians in the division, are playing the Houston Astros. Houston is one of the hottest teams in baseball and already took game one of their series on Thursday night.

Even if the Astros and Royals split their series and the Guardians win them, Cleveland could gain a game. This would be crucial, considering Kansas City owns the playoff tiebreaker over the Guardians.

Cleveland can't take any of their opponents for granted, but if the Guardians play the brand of baseball we saw earlier in the year, they should be able to win this series, and that could be important come October.