Guardians face tough task in Los Angeles against Dodgers

The Cleveland Guardians are set to square off with one of the best teams in baseball, as they will be taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game set this weekend. With the Guardians (80-60) and Dodgers (84-56) holding two of the best records in the sport, this is sure to be a competitive matchup that could even be a preview of things to come a little more than a month from now if things play out in a certain manner.

Cleveland is scheduled to have Matthew Boyd, Alex Cobb, and Gavin Williams take the mound in this series. If there was ever a time for these three arms to face the Dodgers, it is right now. Boyd has been pitching at a high level since making his Guardians debut a few weeks ago, Cobb pitched 6 innings of perfect baseball in his last start, and Williams is finally pitching well on a game-over-game basis. While none of this is a guarantee of future success, it is better to have them pitching like this going into these matchups rather than getting routinely shelled.

The one thing the Guardians will definitely need in this series is their offense to show up. Cleveland's offensive output has been better over the past week or so but has still been relatively inconsistent in the second half. Being able to continue some of their better recent performances should bode well for their chances against the National League juggernaut.

Regardless of the outcome of this series, this is going to be a much-welcome test for the Guardians with the postseason just a few weeks away. If the Guardians are able to stay competitive in the series or even win two of three, it will definitely have everyone feeling quite good about the state of the ballclub. If things do not go in their favor, however, there is no reason to panic, even though it would be incredibly tempting to do so. It would just provide the Guardians with a few areas they need to focus on in the stretch run to make sure they are playing at their best come playoff time.