Guardians' strong start coincides with laughable performance from division rivals

It may have been hard to believe a week ago, but the Cleveland Guardians are heading into their home opener in first place in the American League Central. 

With back-to-back season-opening series against the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Dodgers, most Guardians fans would have been happy if Cleveland was flying back to Cleveland with a record that was flirting with the .500 mark. 

Instead they flew past it, posting a 4-3 record thanks to splitting the series against the Mariners and winning their series against the defending-champion Dodgers. 

And while that performance would be great no matter what, it looks even better given how much the rest of the division struggled out of the gate. 

The Guardians strong start has them leading the American League Central

After the Royals’ 5-1 loss to the Twins earlier today, here’s how the American League Central standings look: 

• Guardians 4-3
• Twins 3-3
• Tigers 2-4
• Twins 2-4
• White Sox 1-5

While we’re clearly not at a point in the season where records really matter (Terry Francona famously used to say that he wouldn’t check the division standings until May), every team would prefer to start the season strong as opposed to struggling. 

The Royals have had the “least” amount of struggles so far thanks to their .500 record, but they started the season by losing a series to the Braves before winning their series against the Twins. 

They had a chance to sweep Minnesota after taking the first two games of their series this week but fell earlier today on a day where they couldn't get much going on offense.

Former Lane Thomas’ struggles with the Royals continued, as he went 0-for-4 with an inning-ending strikeout that came with the bases-loaded (though he did record an outfield assist and make an impressive catch). The Royals are headed to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers next before coming to Progressive Field for the Guardians’ second home series of the year. 

Kansas City is always going to be a contender thanks to Bobby Witt Jr., but their early returns make it seem like their struggles from last season haven’t gone anywhere. 

The Twins have the same record as the Tigers, who went 2-4 across a season-opening West Coast road trip against the Padres and Diamondbacks. 

They took two of three against San Diego before dropping all three games against Arizona in a series where Justin Verlander struggled and their bats were mostly quiet.

Tarik Skubal took a rare loss in Wednesday’s series finale despite allowing just one run over seven innings. 

Skubal is the American League’s best pitcher and he’s flanked by a great co-ace in Framber Valdez, but their offense still hasn’t worked its way out of the funk they fell into last season as the Guardians mounted their historic comeback in the division. 

That brings us to the White Sox, who are once again at the bottom of the division. While Japanese import Munetaka Murakami has played well through six games (.238/.360/.667, three home runs), Chicago only has one win to show for it. 

They opened the season with a three-game sweep at the hands of the Brewers before losing two out of three against the Marlins.

They won the series finale before losing 9-2 in the second game of the series before dropping the series 10-0 in a game where Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara threw his second career Maddux (a complete game with less than 100 pitches). 

Although Chicago is likely going to be better than they were last season, they still should spend most of the season as bottom-feeders in the American League Central. 

Even if there’s still 155+ games left in the 2026 MLB season, teams are at a point where they want to set the tone for what their season is going to look like. 

The Guardians set a position tone by holding their own against two legitimate World Series contenders. 

The rest of the division can’t say that.