Tag: Cleveland Guardians

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The 5 longest championship droughts in American sports after the Texas Rangers finally won

It’s been a long and painful existence for each of these miserable sports teams.

The Texas Rangers achieved much more than finally put Dallas area baseball on the map with a World Series title. They took themselves off of one of the worst lists in American sports — the longest active championship droughts. Yes, that makes this title even more glorious.

But that got us thinking.

With the Rangers finally off the hook, who actually possesses the longest title drought this side of the Atlantic Ocean? Who deserves to be admonished for never reaching the summit of their respective league? Who provides only consistent disappointment for their loyal fans year after year?

Let’s take a look at the five American sports teams with extended title droughts that don’t seem like they’re ending any time soon.

Twins fans were convinced that Bo Naylor swung while avoiding the ball on a game-tying wild pitch

Swing or no swing?

The Cleveland Guardians scored five straight runs to ultimately win Wednesday’s matchup with the Twins, 5-2, in extra innings. But it was the game-tying play in the ninth that had plenty of Twins fans upset about the umpiring.

Plot twist: The umpires were right.

With the Guardians down to their last strike, trailing by one and runners on second and third, Bo Naylor showed off some acrobatics to avoid a curveball from closer Jhoan Duran that went behind him. But in doing so, Naylor waved his bat across the plate. Andres Gimenez came in to score on a wild pitch and tie the game.

Yet, there was confusion from the Twins dugout over the play.

Naylor started making his way to first, which is something he’d do if the pitch either hit him or if he thought it was a third-strike wild pitch. Home plate umpire Jose Navas and the rest of the crew ruled that the pitch was a ball (meaning the run would count). The Twins challenged the play for a hit by pitch, hoping that an overturn would load the bases rather than tie the game. That challenge failed.

That brings us back to Naylor who could have struck out on the play if umpires ruled it a swing. And while Twins fans would have liked to see that called a swing for a third strike, MLB rules say that a batter must attempt to strike the ball for it to be considered a swing. That’s a judgement call left to the umpires, and Naylor absolutely appeared to be avoiding the pitch. Plus, the Twins would have needed to throw to first and complete the out if it was a swing, and Naylor had a decent chance of reaching safely.

Though the play was accurately called, MLB fans had mixed thoughts over the ruling.

The brutal Tim Anderson, Jose Ramirez fight in 12 photos

Whoa. This was a huge fight!

Who knew it was going to be Fight Night on Saturday in baseball?

Perhaps not since Jose Bautista got decked by Rougned Odor have we seen two baseball players square off and actually throw punches, until Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson did, with Ramirez nailing Anderson with a punch that knocked the Chicago White Sox shortstop down and leading to a “DOWN GOES ANDERSON!” call.

What led to that whole thing? We’ll find out, I’m sure. But there are a bunch of photos snapped of the whole thing that led to quite a brawl with other players.

Here’s a look:

An ugly Tim Anderson and José Ramírez fist fight sparked an all-out White Sox – Guardians brawl

An all-out brawl broke out in Cleveland against the White Sox and Guardians on Saturday night.

A fight between Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez sparked an all-out brawl between both teams on Saturday night in Cleveland.

The truly outrageous, lengthy brawl started in the bottom of the sixth inning with the White Sox leading the Guardians 5-1. Ramírez slid into Anderson at second base, with the umpire calling Ramírez safe, but the two started exchanging words the second Ramírez slid into second.

That turned into Anderson and Ramírez getting into boxing stances and throwing punches at each other. An umpire tried to break up the fight, but as soon as the fists when up, he quickly left the equation.

As you could imagine, all pandemonium broke loose after that, as the brawl eventually extended to both dugouts.

It’s perhaps the wildest moment of the MLB season so far.

Like, this is just everything you don’t want to see in a baseball game. The game eventually resumed, but you can imagine the main league office will be furious about this. Suspensions and fines feel like a guarantee at this point for both teams, particularly for Anderson and Ramírez.

The game also had a historic amount of ejections from both sides.

MLB fans seemed genuinely stunned by the brawl (and how the umpire seemingly got out of the way so the two could box) as it played out on live television for everyone to see.

The Guardians’ Gabriel Arias wowed MLB fans with astonishingly smooth slide through the catcher’s legs

Never seen a slide like that before.

When it comes to smooth slides, Trea Turner is the undisputed MLB champ. But even Turner hasn’t pulled off a slide quite like the one we saw from Guardians shortstop Gabriel Arias on Wednesday.

He went right through the catcher’s legs.

During the afternoon matchup against the Royals, the Guardians looked to add to their early lead after Steven Kwan knocked a one-out single to center field. Arias made a great read on the ball, taking off on contact and continuing home. But Kyle Isbel came up firing with his throw to the plate, forcing Arias to break out one of the cooler slides we’ll see this season.

Again, he went right through catcher Freddy Fermin’s legs and beat the tag.

Home plate umpire Pat Hoberg surprisingly missed the call on the field and initially ruled Arias out at the plate. An argument could have been made that Arias should have been safe regardless with Fermin blocking the plate. But the crew would get the call right after review and give Arias the run.

That slide was key. It was so smooth, and MLB fans agreed.

Sparks fly as former MLB star speaks of Commanders old team name

Jim Edmonds weighs in on Washington’s old team name.

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Former Major League Baseball player Jim Edmonds thought the Washington Redskins was a cool team name.

Edmonds, on a live broadcast of the MLB’s St Louis Cardinals game, stated that he was shocked when the Washington Redskins and, later, the Cleveland Indians succumbed to public pressure to change their team mascot names.

In 2020, Washington’s mascot name was dropped for the rather mundane and redundant Washington Football Team. The result was during that 2020 season; the team was poked fun at by all sorts of media across the country because all other 31 teams had a team name, and this team was, well, “the Football Team.”

Then in 2021, the Cleveland Indians discarded “Indians” for “Guardians” after being the Indians from 1915 through 2021.

The Redskins had actually first been the Boston Braves in 1932. Then when they were moving to Fenway Park in 1933 to share with the Boston Red Sox, in a marketing strategy, they determined to discard “Braves” because Fenway would now be host to the “Red Sox” and “Redskins.”

Edmonds, on the broadcast Thursday, said, “You know what’s really funny is when people reach out to you and say, ‘Hey, I’m from this area, and we really love our baseball here.’ And somebody else will say, ‘Yeah, I wish they had the old names that they used to have.’ It’s just funny to hear everyone’s opinion.”

“I’m still shocked that we’ve changed so much as a whole that [we’re] not allowed to have the Cleveland Indians anymore — the Guardians. And I’m saying that too because my wife is partially Native American Indian.”

“I always thought it was kind of a cool thing, not a bad thing, to have a team named after the Indians or vice versa, whatever, the Washington Redskins.”

Edmonds was good enough to have remained in the major leagues for 17 seasons. He played eight seasons for the Cardinals and seven for the Angels. The former centerfielder was a four-time MLB All-Star and an eight-time Gold Glove winner.

 

Jose Ramirez stole home thanks to a mesmerizingly cool slide and MLB fans were so impressed

Cannot stop watching.

The Cleveland Guardians are in an absolute battle with the Twins atop the American League Central standings, and the division title could very well come down to a single game. That’s the exact kind of scenario where you need gutsy plays to pay off.

For a moment, it seemed like Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez came through with just that against the Kansas City Royals.

Before the eventual 4-3 loss to the Royals in 10 innings, Ramirez gave the Guardians the lead with a straight steal of home with lefty Aroldis Chapman seemingly ignoring him at third base. Home plate umpire Jeremy Riggs initially called Ramirez out on the play, but replays would show that Ramirez got in there with easily the coolest slide of the MLB season. That body control was something else.

Just wow. Also, credit to the camera operator for a perfect shot of the slide. Ramirez was ruled safe after the review, which could have propelled the Guardians to a huge win. But Emmanuel Clase would allow two runs in the bottom half of the 10th, and the Royals won, 4-3.

Still, that slide was poetry in motion. It deservedly received all of the praise from MLB fans.

Guardians’ Bo Naylor had the best celebration with brother Josh after his first home run

This was an awesome moment for the Naylor brothers.

It’s been quite a week for Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor.

After making an incredible move to get a player out in a Tuesday game, the young standout hit his first home run on the road against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Naylor got to take a celebratory run around the bases after the major hit, and he got a big hug from his older brother, Guardians first baseman/outfielder Josh Naylor, in the dugout.

It was an incredibly cool moment for Cleveland fans and especially for the Naylor family as the siblings embraced each other after the younger Naylor’s career first.

Guardians fans will have to hope this is the first of many homers for Bo Naylor, who’s coming on strong for Cleveland this season.

It’s really cool when two siblings get to play together in the pros, and we’re sure the Naylor brothers will be cherishing this moment for some time.

Guardians’ Bo Naylor saved a botched pitchout with a stunning no-look throw out at second

Yes, this play miraculously turned into an out thanks to Bo Naylor’s incredible throw.

Bo Naylor just made this impossible situation look incredibly easy.

In the eighth inning of a 1-0 game between the Cleveland Guardians and the Kansas City Royals, Naylor turned what would have been a tragic misplay into a heroic save. During an at-bat with one on and one out, Trevor Stephan accidentally threw what was supposed to be a pitchout way off the mark. Naylor was thankfully able to snag the wayward ball in time, then turned and tossed a no-looker to second to catch the runner out cold.

Seriously, this was quite the individual effort from Naylor. From corralling the wild pitch to being able to spin and throw a perfect ball to second to catch the Royals runner in stride, this one is a true beauty of a play.

What a dime, indeed!

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