Could Cleveland Guardians legal case push club back to drawing board?

The Cleveland Guardians ride it out and make sure the name is available in 2022

The Cleveland Guardians could make the effort to ensure that the team is able to proceed with the name come Spring Training in 2022. While the roller derby team would prefer to keep their name, money talks. If the Dolans have their hearts set on being the Guardians in 2022, they could most likely make this case go away with a check.

This seems like the easiest route to go and also the fastest. Settling out of court should make the situation go faster and would quiet the cries before they truly begin. Legally, it seems as though the baseball club did their due diligence. They currently own the rights to the name and that should be that.

With that being said, it does seem like they maybe missed a step in the process. As a fan of the Cleveland Guardians name, I didn’t see anything about the roller derby team prior to the name announcement, but it also wasn’t my responsibility to be looking for it. The deep dig on the name that the organization did didn’t go deep enough and now ownership will have to pay for that one way or another. Doing it out of court and quickly will be the preferred option.

The Cleveland Guardians spend a season or more as the Cleveland Baseball Team

Cleveland Baseball Team, Cleveland Baseball Club, whatever way you spin it, this could be the most favorable option for 2022 if Cleveland Guardians is put on hold. This is what the Washington Football Team has done for the past two seasons and while it would be a writer’s nightmare, leaving few options to refer to the team, it does make sense.

There’s no sense in trying to go a different route if the court case does spill into the season. Picking a new name would essentially eliminate the Guardians all together. Having one identity shift is enough, but multiple isn’t plausible. Ownership has been adamant about moving on from the Indians and going back on that for a season would seem quite literally like a step backwards.

Should the legal proceedings of the Cleveland Guardians name appear to go into the season, the Cleveland Baseball Team might be the temporary moniker. It would buy the organization time to reevaluate the position while also accomplishing the goal of moving on from the Cleveland Indians.

Again, from a writer’s perspective the Cleveland Baseball Team leaves very few options, but from the ownership’s perspective, it might be the only option in the short-term.

The Cleveland Guardians go back to the drawing board for a new name

The option that seems like a last resort is that ownership goes back to the drawing board and the 1,000+ names that were considered and pick a different one. The Cleveland Guardians has been received with mixed reviews and this is ownership’s chance to play a reverse card if they so choose.

Merchandise has yet to go on sale, officially, from the team and signage really hasn’t started to be hung up. If they don’t want to deal with yet another court appearance due to the team’s name like they did in Toronto in 2016 before the ALCS, then they have the option have putting this only thing in reverse and trying a different route.

It might seem odd for the team to do this and it surely would warrant responses on social media of “typical Cleveland.” However, it might be the most painless option. There’s still a love for the Cleveland Spiders name out there and there’s obviously plenty of other choices that could be considered.

Again, this route is unlikely and would probably be a last resort. It would likely need to be paired with the Cleveland Baseball Team option as well with time running thin before items need to be ready.

My guess is that ownership makes quick work of the case and moves on with the Cleveland Guardians name. This hopefully won’t be a talking point come January, but until it’s off the table it will unfortunately be the focus of Cleveland baseball.