Statistical Insights Behind the Cleveland Guardians Fast Start to the 2026 Season

The Cleveland Guardians dropped the series opener to the Houston Astros on Monday, but they have begun the year with 13 wins and a top spot in the American League.

Apr 18, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians second baseman Daniel Schneemann (10) hits a single against the Baltimore Orioles during the fifth inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

After being placed with relatively low expectations, the Cleveland Guardians have gotten out to a pretty fast start to the 2026 MLB regular season.

With 13 wins through the first 24 games, the Guardians are near the top of the American League Standings.

And even though they dropped the series opener to the Houston Astros last night, Monday, April 20, Cleveland's early-season performance has shown that this group has taken a pretty big step forward from 2025.

Here are the Guardians' early numbers and league rankings on both sides of the ball:

The Bats Starting To Get Going

At the plate, Cleveland has looked a lot better than they did back in the 2025 season, especially in all-around production. They've hit with a bit of power and consistency, all while spreading the wealth among the lineup.

Outside of the ups and downs from both Kyle Manzardo and Bo Naylor, who statistically are some of the most unlucky hitters in baseball through the first few weeks, the team as a whole has had some great moments.

The Guardians currently rank 15th in hits, fifth in doubles, eighth in home runs, 18th in RBI and 11th in walks. The team's slashing line is also looking fairly solid, coming in at a clip of .227/.314/.378 for an OPS of .692.

While there are obvious avenues for growth, especially in the on-base and strikeout department, the team has made great strides from some of the concerns from last season.

As of Tuesday, April 21, the Guardians' best player at the plate is José Ramírez, who has 20 hits, five doubles, six home runs and 12 RBI. He also has a positive walk-to-strikeout rate at 17 to 14. He has been flying around the bases as well, stealing 10 bags.

The Up and Down Pitching

With 211.1 innings pitched, which is third in MLB, the team's average ERA of 4.09 ranks them 18th in the league. That's not the most promising spot to be at, but a lot of the reason it's so high is due to early-season bumps from starting arms Tanner Bibee and Slade Cecconi.

As a team, they have also given up a lot of hard-hit balls, with the team's home run count of 31 being the fourth-worst.

Fortunately, they are generating a lot of swings and misses, though, as they rank first in the league in total strikeouts. Through 24 games, the questionable arms of Cleveland have 233 strikeouts.

In WHIP and batting average, marks of 1.27 and .228 rank them within the Top 10, which are both good signs that they are keeping bodies off the base paths.

The Guardians' best pitcher statistically is currently Parker Messick, who has an ERA of 1.05, a WHIP of 0.78 and a batting average against of .151. Across 25.2 innings, he has only given up 13 hits and three earned runs.

He's most recently coming off a nine-strikeout no-hitter through eight innings against the Baltimore Orioles last week.

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The Guardians are coming off a loss to the Houston Astros on Monday night, 9-2, but are hoping to see a response on Tuesday for game two of the series.

While the arms have been incredibly inconsistent recently, the hope is that Messick can start the game off strong and give way to the bullpen with the game in hand.