CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Guardians open up the regular season tonight at 10:10 p.m. in Seattle and you can hear the game on Newsradio WTAM 1100, 106.9 FM and on the iHeartRadio app. Shane Bieber will make his fourth consecutive Opening Day start for Cleveland. The 2020 American League Cy Young winner and two-time All-Star will join Stan Covelesk (5), Corey Kluber (5), Bob Feller (4) and Gaylord Perry (4) as the only pitchers in club history to make at least four straight Opening Day starts.
The Guardians are the defending 2022 American League Central Division Champions and they bolstered their batting order for the season by adding first baseman Josh Bell and catcher Mike Zunino. Bell was an All-Star in 2019, he finished the season with a career-high 37 home runs and 116 RBI. Zunino was an All-Star in 2021, he finished the season with career-high 33 home runs and 62 RBI.
The Guardians had a club record four Rawlings Gold Glove winners in 2022 (Steven Kwan, Myles Straw, Andres Gimenez and Shane Bieber) and they have the Terry Francona, 2022 American League Manager of the Year, back in the dugout.
MVP candidate Jose Ramirez is healthy this season after having surgery on his thumb during the off season. Despite the injury in 2022, he still played in 157 games, had 44 doubles, 29 home runs and 126 RBI.
Expectations are high for the Guardians this season with bookmakers making them the favorite to repeat as American League Central Division.
WTAM’s coverage begins at 9:05 p.m. with the “Union Home Mortgage Guardians Gameday Show” hosted by Dennis Manoloff. You can listen HERE
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