Cleveland Guardians: Best and worst of April

April's Worst for the Cleveland Guardians: Short outings from starting pitchers

If there has been one notable area of concern so far for the Cleveland Guardians, it has been the lack of length they have gotten out of their starting rotation. Every game it seems like it is a battle for that day's starter to reach the 5-inning mark and almost an impossible task to reach 6. 

Of Cleveland's 27 non-Shane Bieber starts, 24 of them have been under 6 innings pitched, while 11 have been under 5. Logan Allen (6.2), Tanner Bibee (7.0), and Ben Lively (6.1) have been the only Guardians starters to eclipse the 6-inning mark so far. Carlos Carrasco (three times), Triston McKenzie (twice), and Xzavion Curry (once) have pitched at least 5 innings but have failed to advance further into the game. 

It is still relatively early in the season, and there is no real reason to push players to and beyond their limits in April, so some of these short outings can be somewhat justified. However, if they are not able to find some length soon, this could have catastrophic effects later in the season. Cleveland's bullpen has been one of the best in baseball so far, but that can only continue for so long if they are being tasked with covering 3-4 innings each and every night. Those innings add up and will eventually lead to arms running out of gas in September and October, making it increasingly difficult to win games when they matter most.