Guardians need rest of their rotation to step up following injury to Ben Lively

In the event that some are still unaware, the Cleveland Guardians placed veteran starter Ben Lively on the 15-day injured list with a right flexor tendon strain. This had been bugging Lively prior to Monday's start against the Milwaukee Brewers, and that could be somewhat of a concern moving forward when it comes to a possible timeline for his return and his viability for the rest of the season. With Lively out of the mix for at least the next two weeks, the Cleveland Guardians will need the rest of their rotation to step up their performance on the mound if they are going to continue their early-season success.

Lively has been the most stable and productive starter for the Guardians through the first month and a half of the season, and that has played a very large part in their 25-17 record. There has been a certain baseline of expected performance from Lively on any given day, and with that now out of the equation, it is going to make it much more difficult for Guardians manager Stephen Vogt to navigate the rest of the rotation in his absence.

It will be like attempting to jump over hurdles that have constantly changing heights. Some will be higher, and some will be lower, but the order in which that happens is randomized and cannot be predicted, further increasing the difficulty for the Guardians to come out the other side successfully.

At this moment, the other members of Cleveland's starting rotation have improved their stats from earlier in the season, but there is still a lot of work to do if they are going to keep pace with the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers. Tanner Bibee (3.80) and Logan Allen (3.70) have joined Lively (3.22) as the only Guardians starters with ERAs under 4.00. Gavin Williams (4.38) is getting there, while Luis Ortiz (4.78) has a little ways to go before the gets close.

For the most part, the talent is there for the Guardians to make it through Lively's IL-stint and beyond, but it comes down to whether or not the other members of Cleveland's rotation can pitch up to their true skill level. Bibee is just about there, and Allen is getting closer after his 6 shutout innings in Tuesday's win over Milwaukee. Williams needs to cut down on walks, and Ortiz needs to be better about letting runs come across to score. Yes, there are a lot of things that need to go right, but none should be too much of an ask for a rotation filled with major-league-caliber starters.