As expected, Guardians middle of the pack in MLB Power Rankings

With their 12-9 record and coming off a 4-2 road trip against the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates (including a three-game sweep of the latter team), the Cleveland Guardians have found themselves to be relatively settled in for the beginning of the 2025 season. They have managed to perform adequately well overall while also being able to figure out a few things about their roster as currently constructed.

There have been a few letdowns along the way for Cleveland in the early going, but that is usually how it goes in the first few weeks of the season. This team is still trying to figure themselves out and what their identity is, and with that in mind, being three games over .500 keeps them on track to compete in the American League Central division.

When it comes to their overall competitiveness, the Guardians have been placed within the middle-third of teams in a recently published MLB Power Rankings appearing on MLB.com. The ranking, put together by Will Leitch, has Cleveland as the 13th-ranked team, up one spot from the previous week's ranking. Cleveland is the second-highest AL Central team ranked here, with Detroit remaining in the 8th spot while the rest of the division is ranked 23rd or worse.

A reason for the slight bump for the Guardians is moving Jose Ramirez back to the third spot in the order after beginning the season as Cleveland's primary number-two hitter. "Manager Stephen Vogt moved him back to the three-hole on Friday night, and Ramírez immediately responded, going 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and two runs. Here’s betting he stays there for a while -- probably the rest of the season.", wrote Leitch. With the instant results like those Ramirez provided over this past weekend, it is incredibly difficult to justify moving him out of the third spot in the order, and it should be expected he remains there as long as the production continues.

One thing to remember here is that this team is not even close to what the final version of this team is going to look like, so it is important not to overreact to any type of power ranking position while the calendar still reads April. Right now, the Guardians' focus must be on their upcoming 10-game home stand, where they are set to take on the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Minnesota Twins. A successful run against those teams should have the Guardians keep rising up the rankings and could even surpass the Tigers if enough things go their way over the next week and a half.