Guardians’ 2027 schedule confirms MLB desperately wants rivalry nobody asked for to happen

In April, the Cleveland Guardians opened the home stretch of their season with a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs. 

While having them open their home slate against a National League club may have seemed wild 10 years ago, such is the norm now in the current MLB landscape where every team plays each other one across the course of a season. 

But that home opener had a bit of extra significance this year since it’s not like they were starting their season against any old National League club. No, it was that club; the one who defeated the Guardians in the 2016 World Series. 

And having Cleveland’s home opener against the Cubs made sense considering it had been 10 years since that World Series, which ended with Chicago celebrating on Progressive Field’s infield. 

Turns out the schedule makers liked that matchup so much they’re going to dip into it again next year. 

That’s right. Instead of the Guardians starting the season like they usually do on the warm West Coast, they’re going to start the season in March in a place known for its whipping wind and frigid temperatures. 

Part of the reason the Guardians never start the season at home is because Ohio weather almost never corporates in March. And, if it does, it’s usually incredibly frigid. But for whatever reason, next year’s schedule will open in place with equally frigid temperatures just so we can all experience a bit of nostalgia. 

That’s followed by a series against the Tigers in Detroit, which could end up being just as cold. 

The Guardians are opening the 2027 season against the Cubs

Now, this all comes with the obvious caveat that next year’s schedule could be impacted by the impending lockout due to labor disputes between MLB owners and the Players Association. 

Any lockout would go into place once the current Collective Bargaining Agreement Dec. 9, and would go on until both sides could come to an agreement. 

The last time the CBA expired after the 2021 season, the lockout lasted three months, three weeks and one day before both sides reached an agreement on March 10, 2022. MLB canceled the first two series of the regular season on March 1, but they made the games up during the season. 

Cleveland’s series against the Cubs would obviously be their first series on the chopping block should this year’s lockout carry on that long. 

While any series between the Guardians and Cubs is always going to bring up plenty of emotions for both members of the fanbase, trying to pigeon hole it into the Opening Week of the calendar means the games won’t get the kind of love they could get in the middle of the summer when there’s less going on (and the weather is better). 

This year’s home opener had fantastic weather before the final two games of the series were defined by cold weather. Next year’s opening series between the two would be more of the same (so long as it actually happens).

No one asked for it, but it's what we're going to get.

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