Last home stand before the All-Star Break. Astros looking to build off a great road trip.
After quite the road trip, where the Astros saw the worst of the NL (winning a 3-game set in Colorado 2-1) and the best (sweeping a 3-game set with the Dodgers that included the glorious 18-1 July 4th Massacre), Houston returns home for a 6-game homestand where they look to build upon a sterling home record (32-14) going into the All-Star Break. First up is a 3-game set against the Cleveland Guardians.
Cleveland Guardians 2025 Standings at a Glance:
- 40-48: 4th in the AL-West (15.5 GB); 7.0 GB of the 3rd Wild Card Spot
- Road Record: 20-25
- Last 10: 0-10
- Record vs. Houston (2025): 1-2 (June 6-8 at Cleveland)
- Record vs. AL West: 6-9
- All-Time vs. Houston: 46-48
- Post-season: 0-3 (ALDS, 2018)
Cleveland Leaders:
Offense:
- BA: .297 (Jose Ramirez (3B))
- OPS: .839 (Jose Ramirez (3B))
- RBI: 39 (Jose Ramirez (3B), Carlos Santana (1B))
- HR: 14 (Jose Ramirez (3B), Kyle Manzardo (1B))
Pitching:
- Wins: 5 (Logan Allen, Gavin Williams)
- ERA: 3.86 (Gavin Williams)
- Strikeouts: 87 (Tanner Bibee)
- Saves: 18 (Emmanual Clase)
Projected Starters (Field Players. Subject to Change)
- C: Bo Naylor
- 1B: Carlos Santana
- 2B: Daniel Schneemann
- 3B: Jose Ramirez
- SS: Bryan Rocchio
- LF: Steven Kwan
- CF: Angel Martinez
- RF: Nolan Jones
- DH: David Fry
Season Summary: Coming off of last season’s ALCS run, Cleveland figured to be in the discussion for the AL Central title once again. At the beginning of June, the Guardians found themselves in decent shape, sitting at 32-26. Since then, Cleveland has gone 8-22. Even the 2025 Rockies have a better record in that time (11-20). This includes their hosting the Astros back in early June. The 2-1 Astros series win gave Houston at the time only its third road series win. Currently, the Guardians are riding a 10-game losing streak, with the last 3 losses coming from a home sweep by the Tigers, and their once promising season is spiraling out of control. They aren’t completely out of contention for an AL Wild Card slot, but they now sit 7.0 games back and falling.
Offense: Cleveland is not known for extensive offensive production over the past few seasons. However, they’ve been particular bad on offense, rating in the lowest tier of the league in runs scored (28th), HRs (23rd), RBIs (28th), BA (29th), OBP (27th), SLG (27th). One can only imagine what the squad would be like if they didn’t have Ramirez raking like he is. Once on base, Cleveland’s running game is middle-of-the-pack, with 65 bases stolen out of 86 attempts, good enough for 14th in the league. However, they can’t get those runners home.
Pitching: Over the past few seasons, Cleveland has relied on its defense and pitching to win games. However, that once-dangerous pitching staff is not performing to their usual standard. They rank in the middle to lower tier of MLB teams in ERA (18th), BBs (26th) and SOs (18th). They don’t allow a lot of home runs (7th), so they have that working for them. The Guardian bullpen is the strength of the pitching staff with Emmanual Clase and Cade Smith their strongest arms. As for the Guardians defense, they are among the league leaders in errors (3rd worst), which put more pressure on a depleted pitching staff (to say nothing of their low-tier offense).
Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
Most Dangerous Threat: 3B Jose Ramirez is the runaway leader for team MVP. He leads the team in most offensive categories and clearly earned his starting nod as AL 3B for the upcoming All-Star Game. In 61 games played against the Houston Astros, Ramirez is batting .276 with 7 HRs and 25 RBIs. In the most recent 3-game series in June, Ramirez went 4-for-10 with a HR and 2 RBIs. However, Ramirez is currently battling injury concerns, and it is possible a stint on the IR is in his near-term future.
Injuries: Sure, what team isn’t dealing with injuries, but some of the major ones from the Cleveland side:
- OF Lane Thomas (Plantar Fascia): Day-to-Day
- SS/2B Garbriel Arias (Ankle Sprain): 10 Day IL from 30 June
- RHP Shane Bieber (UCL): 60-Day IL from April 29. Projected return later July
- RHP Trevor Stephan (UCL): 60-Day IL April 22. Projected return later July
- RHP Paul Sewald (Deltoid Strain): Projected return mid-July
- LHP John Means (UCL): 60-IL from April 8. Projected return late 2025
Intangibles/Vibe: Things are not particularly great with Cleveland at the moment. The June/July slump we’ve already discussed. 2nd year manager Stephen Vogt is facing mounting criticism as the Guardians’ 2025 nightmare continues. Oh, and one of their pitchers, Luis Ortiz, is facing MLB-level investigations due to potential gambling violations. Not that he was pitching all that well this year, but this type of news is not what a struggling team with playoff expectations needs to face.
Series Matchups (CLE vs. HOU):
- Monday, July 7, 7:10 CDT: Tanner Bibee (4-9, 4.20 ERA) vs. Hunter Brown (9-3, 1.82 ERA)
- Tuesday, July 8, 7:10 CDT: TBD vs. Brandon Walter (1-1, 4.15 ERA)
- Wednesday, July 9, 7:10 CDT: Slade Cecconi (3-4, 3.56 ERA) vs. Lance McCullers, Jr. (2-3, 5.82 ERA)
Outlook: The fortunes of these franchises are polar opposites since they last met. Cleveland is fast moving into selling territory for the pending trade deadline, while Houston is back to its dominant ways. For a Cleveland team in a major slump and fresh off a brutal beating by the league-leading Tigers, the prospect of facing a just as dangerous Houston team with the best home record in the AL is, uh, not ideal. In theory, this should be no worse than another home series win for the Astros. In theory.