How the Cleveland Guardians’ Rotation Faces Early Questions After Rough First Starts

You never expect perfection to begin a season.

But how starting pitchers Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee have started the 2026 campaign has raised some questions.

Through the first two games of the year against the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland's top rotation arms have shown flashes of their upsides, while also simultaneously revealing the same inconsistencies and issues that have followed them in the past.

With Williams and Bibee getting the opening starts on the mound to begin the year, the Guardians were counting on stability at the top of the rotation. Instead, a mix of allowing home runs and walks has forced the team to try and rely on the offense to carry them to victory.

Bibee's Start on Opening Day

There's an argument to be made that Bibee looked better than Williams did, even though he gave up three solo home runs.

Although the Guardians were able to take down the Mariners and begin the year with a 6-4 victory, the offense had to help carry the team to a win. Constantly, they were having to claw back ahead of Seattle as Bibee continued to give up runs.

He finished the game with four hits and two walks allowed, while giving up three earned runs, all of which were homers. He did strike out seven batters, though.

While the surplus of home runs he allowed is the primary talking point, the focus internally seems to be on making sure he's healthy.

After the fifth inning of action, he began warming up to play in the sixth, but shoulder inflammation led to him being pulled from the contest. In replacement came reliever Connor Brogdon, who was able to keep the sheet clean for the time being.

But losing out on a player expected to be the team's ace in 2026 is a huge hit. Now, the Guardians are just hoping this doesn't turn into a long-term issue.

Since his postgame interview on Thursday, there have been no new updates on his current state.

Williams Struggles With Walks in Game 2

Williams' first time on the mound in 2026 wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either.

He kept bodies off the base paths via the hit department, giving up just two, but he walked an incredibly high amount. He finished the game with six walks to seven strikeouts.

That inability to control the strike zone resulted in him losing his groove in the fourth inning, before throwing a four-seamer right down the middle of the zone, where Cole Young bashed a three-run home run.

When reflecting on what went right and what went wrong in a postgame interview, Vogt wasn't too critical of Williams. He pointed to the need to cut down on walking batters, but also to the 26-year-old's few positives.

"Obviously, the walks were the issue tonight," Vogt said. "But I thought his stuff was pretty good, you know, they didn't hit him, you know. But when you give them free passes, I mean, we gave 3 runs away on walks tonight, and that was the story of the game…

"It just looked like he was spraying a little bit, had a hard time repeating, you know, getting the ball where he wanted it to go. But at the same time…. gives up the lead off triple and then gets out of it. So we know what Gavin's capable of."

#Guardians manager Stephen Vogt on Gavin Williams game tonight vs Seattle:

“Obviously the walks were the issue tonight. I thought his stuff was pretty good, you know, they didn't hit him, you know. But when you give them free passes, I mean, we gave 3 runs away on walks tonight,…
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) March 28, 2026

Back in 2025, Williams was statistically one of the best pitchers on the Guardians' roster. He finished the year with an ERA of 3.06 with a 1.270 WHIP. He wasn't giving up many runs, and he also posted a career low in walks allowed.

However, one area of his game that certainly struggled was the home run shot.

Last year, he gave up 23 home runs in 167 innings, which came out to an average of 1.2 home runs per nine innings, meaning he was giving up the long ball nearly once a game. That's a major issue for a starting arm, especially for a Guardians roster that still isn't that elite offensively.

In the game against the Mariners, the home run pretty much killed his momentum and the Guardians' control, with three runs putting the opposition ahead. From there, they never looked back.

Both Bibee and Williams’ track records show that performances like these won’t happen every game. However, these struggles mirror issues they’ve faced in the past, so they'll need to make corrections before it's too late to break habits.