MLB Series of the Week: Cleveland Guardians vs. Baltimore Orioles

From Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, two of the American League’s three best teams will meet for the first time in 2024 as June winds down.

The New York Yankees may be the best team in the league, but the Cleveland Guardians and Baltimore Orioles are only, at most, a game and a half back of the Yankees.

Cleveland Guardians (49-26, first in the AL Central)

Last week, the Guardians lost the first game of three against the Seattle Mariners, then took the next two and followed that up by sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays with both series in Cleveland.

In the pitching staff, the rotation ranks near the bottom of the majors, as Carlos Carrasco has struggled in his return to Cleveland and youngsters Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen haven’t quite pulled their weight, though Bibee has shown some promise.

When the Guardians lead deep into a game, their bullpen is among baseball’s best, and it begins with closer Emmanuel Clase.

After a down 2023, Clase has rebounded to lead the American League with 24 saves and the Guardians’ pitching staff with 2.0 WAR.

Clase is complemented in the bullpen by Cade Smith and rookies Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis, all of who have a WAR of at least 1.0.

On offense, third baseman José Ramírez has a good chance to make his sixth All-Star Game and fourth straight, as he leads the league among third basemen with 19 home runs.

Elsewhere, Josh Naylor leads all first basemen in the league with 20 home runs and utility man David Fry is batting .312, but he doesn’t have the team’s highest batting average.

After missing almost all of May with a left hamstring strain, outfielder Steven Kwan has hit safely in all but one game since returning on May 31 as Cleveland’s leadoff hitter.

Kwan has hit .463 since his return and is batting .390 overall, which would be well ahead of the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani’s major league-leading .321 average if Kwan was qualified.

Baltimore Orioles (49-28, second in the AL East)

The Orioles’ last week was filled with joy and disappointment, as they took two of three from the Yankees on the road, including a 17-5 shelling in the finale, but then they were swept by the Astros in Houston.

Only Corbin Burnes went more than five innings in a start last week, pitching seven innings and giving up four runs in the second game against Houston.

The rest of the starters either didn’t give manager Brandon Hyde length or were beat up when they reached five innings.

Offensively, shortstop Gunnar Henderson leads the major leagues with 5.6 WAR and has 24 home runs, second behind only Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge.

Catcher Adley Rutschman, who is on track for his second straight All-Star Game, went five for five for the second time in his career on Friday.

On Sunday after their game against the Astros, the Orioles recalled outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the team’s fourth-ranked prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 21 overall prospect, to the majors for a spark.

The Orioles sent down utility man Nick Maton, who came up on Wednesday after third baseman Jordan Westburg collided with Yankees outfielder Juan Soto on Tuesday.

Westburg avoided the injured list after some left hip discomfort, and he has the Orioles’ two lone runs over the last two games, both of which were solo home runs after Baltimore scored 28 runs the two games before.

Projected Starters (per ESPN)

Game 1 (June 24, 6:35 p.m. EST): RHP Tanner Bibee (5-2, 3.65 ERA) vs. LHP Cade Povich (0-1, 3.94 ERA)

Game 2 (June 25, 6:35 p.m.): LHP Logan Allen (8-3, 5.23) vs. LHP Cole Irvin (6-3, 3.45)

Game 3 (June 26, 6:35 p.m.): RHP Carlos Carrasco (3-6, 5.40) vs. RHP Grayson Rodriguez (8-3, 3.82)

All stats and records are as of before the games on June 24, 2024.

Owen Klein is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ojk5092@psu.edu.