To the editor:

Although the 2025 Major League Baseball season came to an end for the Cleveland Guardians as a result of their being defeated by the Detroit Tigers two games to one in the American League Wildcard Series, as a longtime supporter of the Guardians-Indians baseball franchise, I am very pleased and encouraged by their outstanding and overachieving regular season in 2025.

Prior to the beginning of the 2025 season, literally none of the baseball experts predicted that Cleveland would win the American League Central Division race, which they did, and many even picked them to finish as low as fourth in the five-team division.

The Guardians finished the season with a won-lost record of 88-74 in spite of having a Major League-low batting average of only .226 and were the only Major league playoff team that was outscored by their opponents, by a 649-643 run margin during the regular season.

During the season, the Guardians were able to erase a 15 1/2-game deficit, edging out the second-place Tigers by one game to win the Central Division, thus overcoming the greatest such deficit in Major League history, which was previously held by the 1914 Boston Braves, who overcome a 15-game deficit to win the pennant.

Making the Guardians’ prospects ever more dire during the regular season were the season-long suspensions of starting pitcher Luis Ortiz and bullpen-ace Emanual Clase, who is perhaps the best relief pitcher in baseball, which occurred following the mid-season All-Star Game.

Kudos to the Guardians manager, Stephen Vogt, who should, once again, be a strong candidate to repeat as the Major League manager of the year, as well as third baseman Jose Ramirez, a future Hall of Fame, as well as the pitching staff, which placed third in the major leagues with an earned run average of 3.71.

The Guardians-Indians franchise has not won the World Series since 1948, but their prospects for the near future appear to be quite good and most encouraging.

In the off season, Guardians management needs to secure more run-producing hitters to reach the next highest level of competition and seriously contend for the Major League Baseball championship in 2026 and beyond.

Richard Hord

Martins Ferry