CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians rode an improbable comeback to a division title in 2025, but they won’t be catching lightning in a bottle twice. That’s the stark warning from cleveland.com beat reporters Paul Hoynes and Joe Noga on the latest Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, where they dissected the team’s desperate need for offensive reinforcements.

“This year they have to be looking for offense,” Hoynes declared emphatically. “They cannot go through another season like this with a .226 batting average and at the bottom of the MLB rankings in runs and OPS. They are not going to come back from a 15 1/2 game deficit again. That’s not going to happen. That was a once in a lifetime season last year. If they do not improve this offense, 2026 is going to be a long season.”

The numbers don’t l

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