Six-game homestand will be tough test for the Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians have returned home from their successful weeklong road trip, having won four of six games and both series against their opponents. While taking care of business against the Toronto Blue Jays and Washington Nationals on the road solid stretch of success, they are about to face some stiffer competition during their upcoming six-game homestand.

The Guardians are set to play host to the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers over the next week at Progressive Field. Philadelphia comes in with a 21-15 record, winning eight of their last 10 games and firmly sitting in second place in the competitive National League East division. Meanwhile, the Brewers are 19-19 at the moment, finding themselves tied with the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals for second place in the National League Central behind the Chicago Cubs.

Comparing that to the records of Toronto (16-20) and Washington (17-21), it's pretty clear that the Guardians will be facing a step or two up in competition. Winning against teams like the Blue Jays and Nationals is fine but somewhat expected if we are being completely honest here. The Guardians going on to replicate their success against better competition would help solidify their status as one of the better teams in baseball currently.

The Phillies and Brewers are not only a more productive offensive team than the Guardians but also their recent opponents. Milwaukee (175) and Philadelphia (174) have both nearly outscored Cleveland by 20, with the Guardians' 157 runs scored being pretty much middle-of-the-pack. Washington's 168 runs sits between Cleveland and their upcoming opponents, while Toronto's 127 are the fourth-fewest in the sport.

How the Guardians perform during this upcoming stretch will be very informative as to what this team is from a competitiveness standpoint. For a team with playoff aspirations, beating teams with losing records is the expectation rather than something that should be celebrated as a momentous achievement. Being able to win at a similar rate against teams that are going to be part of the postseason conversation later in the year would be a different story entirely.

Even though celebrating what would be just a handful of regular season wins is a bit overboard, finding success against teams as talented as Philadelphia and Milwaukee would show that the Guardians can be competitive with just about anyone, and that should bode well for them later in the season and possibly the postseason.