The Cleveland Guardians aren’t completely out of the postseason hunt in 2025, but their chances don’t look great. After a rough beginning of the year, the Guardians went on a hot streak, but still sit three games out of a Wild Card spot.
In the AL Central, despite shrinking the Detroit Tigers’ lead to single-digits after being over 15 games back, they now sit at 10.5 games back after a rough middle of August.
A huge reason for their struggles this season has been the offensive production. As Zack Meisel of The Athletic outlined, their offensive struggles are something that has occurred despite having a distinct advantage, one not seen since 1987, 38 years ago.
Guardians Have A Major Platoon Advantage
Cleveland’s offense has produced paltry numbers all year long, and it’s been a major issue that will need to be addressed in the offseason ahead of 2026. Their struggles offensively aren’t due to poor matchups; rather, their struggles are despite great matchups.
“The guardians,” Meisel writes, “out of some blend of desperation and discipline, have followed stricter platoons than any other club in the league. In fact, they have held the platoon advantage in 78.6 percent of their plate appearances, by far the highest rate in the league.”
That mark, as Meisel notes, is the highest platoon advantage in MLB since the 1987 St. Louis Cardinals. That team lost the World Series to the Minnesota Twins and finished first in the NL East.
Meanwhile, the Guardians sit in the middle of the AL Central and are on the outside looking in for the 2025 postseason field. Despite holding a huge platoon advantage, the Guardians aren’t in great shape due to their poor offense.
As a team, the Guardians have the worst batting average in baseball with a .227. No other team has a batting average below .231. Cleveland has the third-worst OPS (.673) in baseball, ahead of only the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago White Sox.
MORE: Guardians exec breaks silence on Triston McKenzie’s return to Triple-A
Through 126 games, the Guardians are one of five teams with below 500 runs scored, and have the fewest hits in baseball at 938, with the White Sox second to last with 969.
To say the offense is struggling would be an understatement. Even with Jose Ramirez playing at an MVP caliber level and Kyle Manzardo breaking out, the offense as a whole has been massively disappointing.
Only four hitters have an OPS above .700, which includes C.J. Kafus through his first 50 at-bats. Four batters, David Fry, Lane Thomas, Austin Hedges, and Jhonkensy Noel, have at least 100 at-bats with an OPS below .600.
Having the platoon advantage is supposed to help the offense, and Cleveland has had the best platoon advantage in baseball multiple times in recent history, including in 2024. But this year, such an advantage hasn’t meant much, as the offense has struggled mightily.
On paper, the platoon advantage is a positive thing. However, the batters who have said they have an advantage need to capitalize on it and get hits. The Guardians aren’t getting that production, which has made their historic platoon advantage worthless.
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