Guardians trending upward following series win over Royals

When the season began, the Cleveland Guardians were viewed as a middle-of-the-pack team when compared to the rest of Major League Baseball. A pretty fair assessment of where they stand, considering they do not have the start-studded rosters of the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers, while also being significantly better than the bottom-feeder teams of the sport. With the first series of the season now in the books, they are being considered as a team that is better than average.

According to a rankings list of teams following the conclusion of the first series of the season, the Guardians have moved into the top 10. Coming in as the seventh-ranked team in MLB Power Ranking For All 30 Teams After 2025 Opening Weekend from Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter is Cleveland.

This comes after the Guardians took two of three games from the Royals in Kansas City, including Sunday's contest that was played without Jose Ramirez. Cleveland's All-Star third baseman injured his wrist on Saturday and was kept out of action as a preventative measure.

Reuter would note the offensive contributions of two players who are expected to play important roles this season for Cleveland. "Steven Kwan (6-for-12, 2B, HR) and Kyle Manzardo (5-for-11, 2B, 3B, 2 HR) led the way offensively for a Guardians team that scored 16 runs in three games on the road against the Royals.", wrote Reuter, praising the efforts of Steven Kwan and Kyle Manzardo.

If the Guardians are going to be a successful team in 2025, they are going to need players like the above-mentioned Kwan and Manzardo to provide a certain level of offense, and so far, the returns have been encouraging. Once Ramirez returns to action and starts doing what he does best, being an unstoppable force at the plate and keeping opposing pitchers up at night, the Guardians should be able to continue their winning ways.