Will the Cleveland Guardians win 90+ games in 2025?

Based upon the offseason activity of the Cleveland Guardians, there is a very wide-held feeling that they will take a step back in 2025. On paper, they are a team that only matches last season's success if they can overachieve in just about every area, with the more likely outcome being falling short. But what if someone said that the Guardians could win 90 or more games next season? Would you believe it?

Appearing as part of Zachary D. Rhymer's 1 Sentence to Describe Every MLB Team Entering Spring Training 2025 on Bleacher Report, the Cleveland Guardians were deemedd to be "The only good bet for 90 wins in the AL Central.". This is a pretty bold statement to make about the Guardians and there are a few things to dive further into here.

First off, expecting the Guardians to win 90 wins in 2025 is not a belief many share. It should also be mentioned that while it is not the be-all-end-all projection model, PECOTA has the Guardians slated for 80.4 simulated wins against 81.6 simulated losses next season. It is a pretty stark difference between how well Rhymer believes the Guardians will perform and how PECOTA projects things to play out in Cleveland.

The second part of Rhymer's statement that needs to be examined is the "only good bet" portion. With a statement like that, it is pretty clear Rhymer believes the Guardians have a good shot at winning the American League Central Division in 2025. After stating that "they'll probably be fine." following the trades of Andres Gimenez and Josh Naylor, Rhymer notes that it has been over a decade since the last time Cleveland was division basement bad, "Fine" is more or less this franchise's default, as you have to go back to 2012 to find the last time it had a truly disastrous season.".

Clearly, the Guardians have some foundational pieces in place that could help them win 90 games or more and the AL Central in 2025, with Jose Ramirez, Tanner Bibee, Steven Kwan, Emmanuel Clase, Hunter Gaddis, and Cade Smith leading the charge. It will be up to their supporting cast to provide enough on the mound and in the batter's box that will ultimately determine their fate.