Guardians season-opening road trip ends on disappointing note

It feels pretty safe to say that there are few if any, complaints about the Cleveland Guardians road trip to begin the season coming to an end. The Guardians will be returning home after playing nine games on the road, with their record in those games being less than ideal.

Cleveland is 3-6 to begin the year, and that being their record following a 2-1 opening series win over the Kansas City Royals is quite disappointing. It sure seemed like the Guardians were poised to start the year on a good note, but that did not turn out to be the case.

The Guardians ended up on the wrong end of a three-game sweep when they faced the San Diego Padres last week, bringing any positivity about their series in Kansas City to an abrupt halt. Losing to the Padres is not the end of the world (they are a good team, after all), but being swept in the manner they were was very discouraging. Being outscored 19-4, including a game in which they were shutout, only emphasized the difference in talent between Cleveland and San Diego. Considering the similar team-based season-oriented goals for both teams, it is pretty obvious the Guardians have a lot of work to do.

Even with the less-than-ideal outcome in San Diego, the Guardians still had a chance to end the road trip on a positive note, and their performance in their first game with the Los Angeles Angels made it seem like that was going to happen. Cleveland's 8-6 win on Friday night looked like it was going to set the tone for their series in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, their offensive success was short-lived.

The Angels outscored the Guardians 16-6 in the final two games of their series, as Cleveland was not able to match the surprising performance of Los Angeles. These are games (and a series, for that matter) that the Guardians were expected to win, and the underperformance of their pitching staff and offense on Saturday and Sunday is simply unacceptable. Everyone knows this team is better than what they showed this past weekend, and now it is up to them to prove it.

Losers of five of their last six, the Guardians will play their first home game of the season on Tuesday. Cleveland should be able to take care of business against a Chicago White Sox team that is expected to be a basement dweller once again, and hopefully, that restores some faith in this team. Not just in the fanbase but inside the Guardians clubhouse as well.

The Home Opener for the Cleveland Guardians is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 8th at 4:10 P.M.