The 2026 Cleveland Guardians are, for the most part, precisely the kind of team the Cleveland Guardians have come to always be. They don’t hit for a ton of power – their 42 homers rank 19th overall, their .136 ISO 22nd. They do, though, walk a lot (11.2%, 4th in the game), and they avoid striking out like the plague (19.9%, 3rd lowest).
They sport a middling 96 wRC+ as a team, a mark that’s also 19th overall and slightly ahead of the Reds’ 94 (22nd). They also pitch well, with their team ERA and xERA both ranking about 10th in the game as of the afternoon of Friday, May 15th.
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The evening of Friday, May 15th will see the Guardians play host to the Cincinnati Reds as the two Ohio teams reconvene to compete for the mythical Ohio Cup.
Cincinnati will once again turn to Opening Day starter Andrew Abbott, who mercifully has looked much, much more like his old self across his most recent trio of starts after an incredibly rocky month of April. In that trio, he’s fired 17.2 IP and allowed just 2 ER, boasting a 14/7 K/BB and yielding just a lone home run. That’s help him pitch his season-long ERA down to 4.47, and the Reds are surely hoping that he’ll continue to lower that tonight.
Cleveland will roll out righty Tanner Bibee for the start in the series opener at Progressive Field, with first pitch set to fly out of his hand at 7:10 PM ET.
Here’s how the Reds will line up to start this one:
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