Guardians outclassed by Padres in series sweep

An early season trip to San Diego did not go according to plan for the Cleveland Guardians. The entire three-game series was a rough experience for Cleveland, as they ended up on the wrong end of a sweep at the hand of the Padres.

It was an all-around letdown for the Guardians in San Diego. Cleveland had issues in just about every facet of the game, making it a relatively easy affair for their hosts to come out on top. There was really only a brief moment that it seemed like the Guardians had a chance, the 1st inning of Game 1 when Jose Ramirez homered to give Cleveland an early 1-0 lead. In regards to every other moment of baseball that was played, it was pretty clear that the Guardians stood zero chance against the Padres.

It would be one thing if the Guardians only had an issue in one certain area of the game, but that is just not the case. Cleveland failed time after time to come through with a timely hit, and if that was not bad enough, their pitching staff did not do them any real favors in the first two games. The starts of Luis Ortiz and Logan Allen were far from acceptable and could even be considered complete and total disasters. Is it only one game? Sure, but Ortiz was relatively forgettable before his 2024 quasi-breakout, and there was a reason why Allen was demoted last season, and it was performances like those in their respective starts.

Not helping matters were the defensive issues that seemed to make an appearance far too often for the Guardians, and when facing a team as talented as San Diego, that is a huge problem. Teams like the Padres can take advantage of the defensive mistakes of their opponents, and the Guardians gave them far too many opportunities to do so.

The good news for the Guardians here is that they have an off day on Thursday. This should give them an opportunity to reset and prepare for their upcoming series with the Los Angeles Angels. It will be incredibly tempting to dwell on the epically bad play that took place at Petco Park over these past three days, but it will be in the best interests of every single person in that clubhouse to flush this series down the toilet and start fresh in Los Angeles.