Former Guardians nemesis popped with 80-game PED suspension 

Last year was the first year in recent memory where Max Kepler didn’t ruin at least one summer day for Cleveland Guardians fans. 

While Kepler was still in MLB, the longtime Minnesota moved to the National League via a one-year, $10 million contract with the Phillies. 

And it seems like Guardians fans won’t have to worry about Kepler in 2026, as the 32-year-old free agent outfielder was hit with an 80-game PED suspension on Saturday that will essentially end his 2026 campaign before it even began. 

Although ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported that he’ll still be able to serve the suspension even if he doesn’t sign with a club, he’s still ineligible to play in the 2026 postseason. 

Guardians killer Max Kepler will miss 80 games in 2026 after PED suspension

While Kepler only played in three games with the Twins in his first MLB season in 2015, it didn’t take long for him to become an everyday player for the Twins, as he played in 113 games in 2016 and hit .235 with 17 home runs and 63 RBI.

Three of those home runs came in one game against the Guardians that August, which set up his half-decade of domination against Cleveland. 

Although Kepler only has a career .206 average against the Guardians, he has 22 career home runs against Cleveland pitching (his most against any single club). Nearly 23% of those home runs came in 2019 when he homered in five straight at-bats against Trevor Bauer. 

Kepler ended up slugging 161 home runs across his 10 seasons in Minnesota, but he never made much of an impact during Minnesota’s postseason runs and ended his time in the twin cities with a disappointing 2024 season. 

That led to him signing that aforementioned deal with the Phillies, which set up another disappointing season. Even though he hit 18 home runs, he hit just .216 and was unhappy with the fact the Phillies were using him in a platoon role alongside Nick Castellanos. 

He played in all three of Philadelphia's games against the Guardians last season and went 1-for-11 with a two-run double.

Now he likely won’t have any role for a club in 2026. While he theoretically could help a team later in the year after his 80 game suspension is over, the fact that he won’t be able to play in the postseason is a proverbial cloud hanging over his head. 

Even though Kepler likely wouldn’t have signed a huge deal in free agency, he was still a solid B-tier prospect. In fact, it’s easy to picture a world where he could have helped the Guardians (even if he would have been a bit redundant given the number of left-handed hitters in Cleveland's MLB picture).

Kepler was the classic kind of American League Central role player who always seemed to step up against the Guardians, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if this suspension serves as the beginning of the end for his career.