🔥 Corner Wire: All Things Guardians — Cleveland’s New Star: Chase DeLauter’s Incredible Debut

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

Chase DeLauter’s Start Is Getting Absurd — and the Power Surge Just Keeps Going

That is not just a nice first week. That is a start that forces everyone to stop what they are doing and look up. DeLauter has not been padding numbers with cheap singles or empty at-bats. He is changing games with real impact swings, and he is doing it in spots that matter. Friday’s blast helped bury the Cubs late. Last weekend in Seattle, he was already doing damage there too, including a game-changing homer that kept his early rampage alive.

⚾ DeLauter’s Current Home Run Pace

Five home runs in seven regular-season games works out to a 162-game pace of 116 home runs. No, nobody is pretending that pace is realistic. But that is exactly the point: the start has been that ridiculous.

“`

MLB single-season record

116

DeLauter’s current 162-game pace

Pace calculation based on 5 HR in 7 regular-season games.

“`

What makes this even louder is the way it has happened. DeLauter homered twice in his regular-season debut, then kept stacking big swings instead of cooling off. By the time the Guardians got to their home opener, he had already become one of the biggest stories in baseball’s first week. Reuters reported Friday that his latest homer pulled him into a tie for the MLB lead with five.

And Cleveland needs this. The Guardians are never going to live in the same financial universe as the sport’s heavyweights, so when a homegrown bat shows up and starts thumping baseballs into the seats, it changes the mood around the lineup immediately. DeLauter gives the order something it has badly needed at times: fear factor. Pitchers now have to account for real damage every time he steps in.

It is still early, and nobody with a functioning brain should project this exact pace over six months. But that does not mean fans should downplay it, either. Historic is historic, even in small samples. DeLauter’s first week has already put him in rare company, and more importantly for Cleveland, it looks like the power is not fluky. The swings have authority. The ball jumps differently off his bat. And right now, every game feels like it comes with at least one moment where he might leave the yard again.

That is what makes this worth watching beyond the box score. This is not just a prospect arriving. This looks like a middle-of-the-order presence announcing himself as fast as possible.

🎥 Watch the Power Surge

Sources

⚾ THE CORNER RUNDOWN: Cleveland Guardians VS. Chicago Cubs – April 3, 2026

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

The Corner Rundown: Guardians 4, Cubs 1

Date: April 3, 2026
Matchup: Chicago Cubs at Cleveland Guardians
Location: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio

The home opener had the right kind of buzz, and by the seventh inning the ballpark finally got the jolt it was waiting for. Cleveland took down the Cubs 4-1 on Friday afternoon behind a big day from Chase DeLauter, a timely blast from Gabriel Arias, and another steady effort from a bullpen that continues to hold things together.

🔥 Key Performers

Chase DeLauter: 3-for-4, HR, 3 RBI. He tied the game with an RBI single in the fifth, then blew it open with a two-run shot to right in the seventh.
Gabriel Arias: 1-for-4, HR. His solo homer in the seventh gave Cleveland the lead for good.
Joey Cantillo: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 5 K. Not flashy, just effective. He kept the game from getting away early and gave Cleveland a chance to flip it late.
Connor Brogdon: Win in relief. He bridged the middle innings and kept the Cubs from adding on.
Cade Smith: Save No. 2. Clean finish, no drama.
Miguel Amaya: RBI double for Chicago’s only run.

📝 Game Summary

The Cubs struck first in the third when Pete Crow-Armstrong came around to score on Amaya’s double, and for a while it looked like Cleveland might waste a handful of early chances. That changed in the fifth, when DeLauter shot a game-tying single to left to bring home Daniel Schneemann.

Then came the seventh. Arias jumped on a hanging slider and sent it into the seats in right to put the Guardians ahead 2-1. A little later, with Steven Kwan aboard, DeLauter did the real damage. He turned on a Hunter Harvey fastball and sent it 402 feet into right field, giving the Guardians a 4-1 cushion and Progressive Field the kind of home-opener moment people actually remember.

From there, Cleveland’s bullpen shut the door. The Cubs never found another real push, and the Guardians walked off with their third straight home-opener win.

📊 Notable Stats

Cleveland improved to 5-3 with the win.
DeLauter’s homer was his fifth of the season.
The Guardians out-hit Chicago 9-5.
Arias’ homer was his second of the year.
Attendance for the home opener was 36,396.
First pitch temperature was 70 degrees, Cleveland’s warmest March or April opener in decades.

🎥 Watch the Highlights

💰 The Betting Corner

For Friday’s opener, FanDuel had the Cubs listed at -118 on the moneyline with the Guardians at +100. Cleveland not only won outright, but also covered the +1.5 run line comfortably in a 4-1 game.

Looking ahead to Saturday, the Cubs are again the side entering the matchup as the favorite across early market boards, with FanDuel’s game page live for the matchup as of Friday evening. If you’re tracking the angle from Game 1, Cleveland already burned the opener-moneyline crowd once and now gets a chance to make this series uncomfortable in a hurry.

📅 Next Game

Game 2: Chicago Cubs at Cleveland Guardians
Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026
Time: 7:15 PM ET
Location: Progressive Field

Probable Pitchers:
Chicago: Shota Imanaga (LHP)
Cleveland: Slade Cecconi (RHP)

The Guardians got the home opener they wanted: loud crowd, late thunder, and DeLauter looking like a guy who doesn’t care much for easing into the spotlight.

⚾ THE CORNER RUNDOWN: Cleveland Guardians VS. Los Angeles Dodgers – April 1, 2026

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

⚾ The Corner Rundown: Guardians 4, Dodgers 1

Date: April 1, 2026
Matchup: Cleveland Guardians vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Location: Dodger Stadium — Los Angeles, California

The Guardians walked into Dodger Stadium and took a series from one of baseball’s giants, finishing it off with a 4-1 win Wednesday night. Behind a dominant outing from Gavin Williams and a mix of aggressive baserunning and timely power, Cleveland controlled this one from the jump.

🔥 Key Performers

Gavin Williams — 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K. Absolute command. He overpowered a loaded Dodgers lineup all night.
Gabriel Arias — Solo HR. Immediate damage after Cleveland cracked the door open.
José Ramírez — 2-run HR. First homer of the season and it put the game out of reach.
Daniel Schneemann — Double, run scored. Set the tone with hustle and forced the Dodgers into a mistake.

📝 Game Summary

This one flipped in the third inning, and it wasn’t a home run that got things started — it was pressure.

Daniel Schneemann led off with a double, pushed the issue on the bases, and came around to score on a throwing error from catcher Will Smith. That opened the door, and Gabriel Arias immediately kicked it in with a solo shot to make it 2-0.

From there, it became the Gavin Williams show. He carved through the Dodgers lineup with power stuff, racking up 10 strikeouts over seven shutout innings. At one point, he faced just one batter over the minimum through five innings — complete control.

The Guardians added insurance in the eighth when José Ramírez launched a two-run homer, giving Cleveland breathing room and putting the game away. The Dodgers avoided the shutout on a late solo shot from Freddie Freeman, but by then, it was already decided.

This wasn’t just a win — it was a clean, composed, playoff-style performance against one of the most talented rosters in baseball.

📊 Notable Stats

Williams struck out 10 batters over 7 scoreless innings.
The Guardians scored 2 runs in the 3rd inning — one via error, one via HR.
José Ramírez recorded his first home run of the 2026 season.
Cleveland won the series 2 games to 1 against the Dodgers.
The Dodgers managed just 5 hits all game.

🎥 Watch the Highlights

Catch the full game highlights below:

💰 The Betting Corner

The Dodgers entered as heavy favorites at -270 on the moneyline with a -1.5 run line, while Cleveland sat around +220.

Result? Guardians not only covered — they won outright. Another early-season reminder that this team plays above the odds, especially when their pitching shows up like this.

Looking ahead to the home opener vs. the Cubs, FanDuel odds were not fully posted yet at the time of writing, but expect Cleveland to be much closer to even with momentum coming home.

📅 Next Game

Opponent: Chicago Cubs
Date: Friday, April 3, 2026
Time: 4:10 PM ET
Location: Progressive Field — Cleveland, Ohio
Probable Pitchers: Joey Cantillo (Guardians) vs. Cade Horton (Cubs)

The Guardians head home taking a series from the Dodgers — and doing it their way: pressure, pitching, and timely swings. That formula travels, and right now, it’s working.

⚾ THE CORNER RUNDOWN: Cleveland Guardians VS. Los Angeles Dodgers – March 31, 2026

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

The Corner Rundown: Dodgers 4, Guardians 1

Date: March 31, 2026
Matchup: Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Dodgers
Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California

🔑 Key Performers

Tanner Bibee, Guardians: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Cleveland needed a clean, steady outing from its ace after his early-season shoulder scare, and Bibee mostly delivered. He kept the Guardians in it and also reached the 500-strikeout mark for his career.
Rhys Hoskins, Guardians: Doubled for Cleveland’s only extra-base hit against Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers’ bullpen.
Brayan Rocchio, Guardians: RBI single in the ninth to keep Cleveland from getting blanked.
Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K in his first pitching start of the season. He also reached base three times at the plate.
Andy Pages, Dodgers: 2 hits, 2 RBI, including the game’s first run-scoring knock in the fourth and another RBI single in the eighth.
Max Muncy, Dodgers: Crushed his first homer of the season, a solo shot in the sixth that doubled the Dodgers’ lead.

📝 Game Summary

This one felt tight for a while, which made it all the more frustrating for Cleveland.

The Guardians had almost nothing cooking against Ohtani, who looked every bit like a problem on the mound in his 2026 pitching debut. Cleveland managed just one hit off him — a two-out double by Hoskins in the fourth — and never found the big swing or the crooked inning it needed.

Meanwhile, Bibee was solid. He gave up an RBI single to Andy Pages in the fourth, but otherwise did his job and kept the Guardians within striking distance. The bigger issue was that Cleveland’s offense never made Ohtani uncomfortable for long, and the Dodgers gradually stacked on insurance.

Muncy’s solo homer in the sixth made it 2-0, and Los Angeles finally created separation in the eighth with RBI singles from Teoscar Hernández and Pages to push the lead to 4-0. Cleveland scratched across one in the ninth on Rocchio’s RBI single, but that was it.

One other storyline worth watching: Chase DeLauter left early after fouling a ball off his foot in the first inning. The good news is X-rays came back negative, but it was still an ugly moment in a game where the Guardians already had very little margin for error.

📊 Notable Stats

The Guardians were held to just two hits.
Ohtani struck out six over six scoreless innings.
Bibee’s strikeout of Mookie Betts in the third was the 500th punchout of his MLB career.
Pages drove in two of the Dodgers’ four runs.
Rocchio’s ninth-inning single accounted for Cleveland’s only run.

🎥 Watch the Highlights

Here are the MLB game highlights from Tuesday night:

💸 The Betting Corner

FanDuel odds for the next game:
Dodgers -250 moneyline
Guardians +205 moneyline
Run line: Dodgers -1.5 / Guardians +1.5

So the market is pretty clear here: Los Angeles is still being priced like the heavyweight, and Cleveland is going to have to punch above its weight again to steal the finale.

📅 Next Game

Who: Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Dodgers
When: Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 8:20 PM ET (5:20 PM PT)
Where: Dodger Stadium
Probable Starters: Gavin Williams (Guardians) vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers)

The Guardians have a shot to win the series, but they are going to need a lot more life from the bats than they showed Tuesday night. Bibee did enough to give them a chance. The lineup did not.

🔥 All Things Guardians — Guardians vs Dodgers: A Payroll David vs Goliath Showdown

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

All Things Guardians: David, Goliath, and a Few Hundred Million Bucks

The Guardians and Dodgers are in the middle of a series in Los Angeles, and the matchup looks even wilder when you put the money side-by-side. Cleveland opened the set by beating the Dodgers 4-2 on March 31, but the payroll gap is still the kind of thing that makes you double-check the decimal point.

Cleveland Guardians

$87.96M

Projected 2026 luxury-tax payroll

Los Angeles Dodgers

$413.52M

Projected 2026 luxury-tax payroll

The Gap

$325.56M

The Dodgers are carrying roughly 4.7 times Cleveland’s tax payroll

A payroll race that isn’t even close

The Guardians have made a habit of showing up with a sharpened sling while the other side rolls in wearing armor. That is the cleanest way to describe this series. Cleveland’s projected 2026 luxury-tax payroll sits under $88 million. The Dodgers are north of $413 million. That is not a small-market versus big-market difference. That is a “one team shops smart, the other team bought the whole aisle” difference.

Visual No. 1: Payroll bar fight

Dodgers

Guardians

Same field. Same rules. Very different checkbooks.

Now let’s turn those dollars into something ridiculous

Using the common estimate that a U.S. dollar bill is about 0.0043 inches thick, the Dodgers’ projected payroll in stacked $1 bills would reach roughly 148,177 feet into the air. The Guardians would still build a towering stack at about 31,519 feet. But the difference between them alone would rise another 116,658 feet.

The Dodgers’ stack would be about 209 Terminal Towers high.
The Guardians’ stack would be about 45 Terminal Towers high.
The difference alone would be about 165 Terminal Towers high.
Using the Empire State Building for scale, the Dodgers’ stack would reach nearly 102 Empire State Buildings.

Visual No. 2: The $1 bill skyline test

Guardians: 31,519 feet

Dodgers: 148,177 feet

Difference: 116,658 feet

That is less “apples to apples” and more “apple to armored truck.”

And yet, this is exactly why Cleveland gets interesting

The Guardians do not win these comparisons on paper. They win them by making the paper matter less. Development, pitching, defense, timing, and finding value where richer clubs miss it — that has been Cleveland’s lane for years. It is why this series works as such a perfect snapshot of who the Guardians are. The Dodgers are baseball’s financial final boss. The Guardians are the club that keeps showing up with a better plan than budget.

That is what makes this feel a little like David and Goliath, except in this version David also has a scouting department, a strike-throwing lefty, and zero interest in being impressed by somebody else’s wallet.

Sources

⚾ THE CORNER RUNDOWN: Cleveland Guardians VS. Los Angeles Dodgers – March 30, 2026

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

The Corner Rundown: Guardians 4, Dodgers 2

Date: March 30, 2026
Matchup: Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Dodgers
Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California

The Guardians walked into Chavez Ravine and handed the Dodgers their first loss of the season Monday night, riding a sharp debut from Parker Messick and a timely seventh-inning push to a 4-2 win. Cleveland stayed patient, pitched with guts, and made the most of the chances it got against one of baseball’s toughest lineups.

🔥 Key Performers

Parker Messick: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K — calm, efficient, and fearless in his season debut.
Steven Kwan: 2-for-4, RBI, run scored — sparked the offense early and helped ignite the seventh-inning rally.
Daniel Schneemann: 1-for-4, 2 RBI double — the biggest swing of the night, turning a tight game into a 4-0 Cleveland lead.
Austin Hedges: 2-for-4, 2 runs scored — set the table twice and kept pressure on the Dodgers all night.
Rhys Hoskins: RBI walk in the seventh after battling back from an 0-2 count — a grinder at-bat that mattered.

📝 Game Summary

Cleveland scratched first in the third when Hedges doubled and Kwan followed with a run-scoring double to put the Guardians up 1-0. That was all Messick needed for a while. The left-hander kept the Dodgers off balance with a poised mix, worked clean innings, and never gave Los Angeles the kind of crooked number that lineup is always threatening to produce.

The game stayed tight until the seventh, when the Guardians finally broke it open. Hedges, Angel Martínez, and Kwan helped load the bases, Hoskins drew a tough RBI walk, and Schneemann ripped a two-run double to left-center to make it 4-0. That was the knockout stretch.

The Dodgers finally showed life in the ninth against Cade Smith. Mookie Betts lined an RBI double and Freddie Freeman added a run on a groundout, but Cleveland had already built enough cushion. The bullpen bent late, but it didn’t break.

For a club coming off a split in Seattle, this felt like a real statement win. The Guardians didn’t overpower the Dodgers. They just out-executed them.

📊 Notable Stats

Cleveland improved to 3-2 with the win.
The Dodgers took their first loss of the 2026 season.
Messick did not issue a walk in six scoreless innings.
The Guardians scored three of their four runs in the seventh inning.
Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki allowed 1 run over 4+ innings in his season debut.
Los Angeles didn’t score until the ninth inning.

🎥 Watch the Highlights

Full game highlights from MLB are below:

💸 The Betting Corner

Previous game recap vs. the line:
The Dodgers closed as clear favorites, with Los Angeles around -199 on the moneyline and -1.5 on the run line. Cleveland not only covered, but won outright as a live underdog. If you grabbed the Guardians moneyline, you cashed nicely. If you took Cleveland +1.5, that one never really felt in danger.

Upcoming game odds:
At the time of writing, FanDuel had not posted a readable public line through the pages available for the next Guardians-Dodgers matchup. Once it’s live, this is the game to watch because it lines up as Tanner Bibee vs. Shohei Ohtani, which will obviously pull serious betting attention.

📅 Next Game

Who: Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Dodgers
When: Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at 10:10 PM ET
Where: Dodger Stadium
Probable Starters: Tanner Bibee (Guardians) vs. Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)

If the Guardians can stack another clean, disciplined game behind Bibee, they’ve got a real shot to make this series uncomfortable for the defending champs in a hurry.

⚾ THE CORNER RUNDOWN: Cleveland Guardians VS. Seattle Mariners– March 29, 2026

Posted on March 30, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

The Corner Rundown: Mariners 8, Guardians 0

March 29, 2026 | Cleveland Guardians at Seattle Mariners | T-Mobile Park, Seattle

The Guardians closed out their opening series in Seattle with a thud Sunday night, getting blanked 8-0 as the Mariners rode a dominant outing from Emerson Hancock and cashed in on Cleveland’s quiet bats. The four-game set still ends in a split, but this one was all Seattle from the fourth inning on.

🔑 Key Performers

Chase DeLauter went 1-for-3 and broke up the no-hit bid with a clean single to right in the seventh.
Daniel Schneemann added Cleveland’s only other hit, finishing 1-for-3.
José Ramírez drew a walk in the first, but the Guardians never found any sustained offense behind him.
Slade Cecconi struck out five, but Seattle got to him for six earned runs over 4 1/3 innings.

📝 Game Summary

For three innings, this thing still felt manageable. Then the fourth blew open. Seattle got on the board with an RBI single from Leo Rivas before Brendan Donovan turned the game with a three-run shot to right, suddenly making it 4-0.

The Mariners kept pressing. Randy Arozarena ripped an RBI double in the fifth, Luke Raley followed with a run-scoring single, Cal Raleigh added a ground-rule RBI double in the sixth, and Arozarena tacked on another RBI single in the eighth. By then, the Guardians were just trying to scratch out anything against Hancock and reliever Cooper Criswell.

They never did. Cleveland managed only two hits all night and struck out 14 times. Hancock went six hitless innings with nine strikeouts, and Criswell finished the final three frames for the save.

📊 Notable Stats

The Guardians were held to 2 hits and 0 runs.
Cleveland struck out 14 times.
DeLauter’s seventh-inning single was the club’s first hit of the night.
Seattle went 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Donovan finished with 3 RBI, while Arozarena chipped in 2 RBI.
Hancock threw 6.0 hitless innings with 9 strikeouts; Criswell followed with 3.0 innings and 5 strikeouts.

🎥 Watch the Highlights

MLB’s game highlights are embedded below:

💰 The Betting Corner

How the previous game played against the spread:
FanDuel had Seattle at -1.5 (+126) with the Mariners -178 on the moneyline, while Cleveland came back at +1.5 (-152) and +150 on the moneyline. With the 8-0 final, Seattle covered the run line comfortably and the Mariners moneyline cashed without any drama.

Upcoming game odds (FanDuel):
For Cleveland’s next game against the Dodgers, FanDuel listed the Guardians at +1.5 (-144) and +154 on the moneyline. Los Angeles was listed at -1.5 (+120) and -184 on the moneyline. The total was sitting at 8.5, with the over at -105 and the under at -115.

⏭️ Next Game

Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Dodgers
Date: Monday, March 30, 2026
Time: 10:10 PM ET
Location: Dodger Stadium
Probable Starters: Parker Messick (CLE) vs. Roki Sasaki (LAD)

⚾ THE CORNER RUNDOWN: Cleveland Guardians VS. Seattle Mariners– March 28, 2026

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

The Corner Rundown: Guardians 6, Mariners 5 (10 innings)

Date: Saturday, March 28, 2026
Matchup: Cleveland Guardians at Seattle Mariners
Location: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, Washington

🔥 Key Performers

Chase DeLauter stayed absurdly hot and delivered the biggest swing of the night, crushing a two-run homer in the 10th that gave Cleveland the lead for good. That made it four home runs in his first three games — which is just ridiculous no matter how early it is.

José Ramírez helped get the Guardians back in it with an RBI double in the sixth, and in the process joined Tris Speaker and Nap Lajoie as the only players in franchise history with 400 or more doubles.

Kyle Manzardo followed Ramírez with an RBI single in the same inning, helping Cleveland erase an early 2-0 deficit.

Joey Cantillo only lasted 3 2/3 innings, but Cleveland’s bullpen kept the game within reach long enough for the offense to flip it late.

Connor Brogdon had to sweat through a tense bottom of the 10th, but he finished the job and locked down his first save of the season.

On Seattle’s side, Julio Rodríguez came through with a game-tying RBI single in the ninth, and Luke Raley nearly stole it back with a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th.

📝 Game Summary

This one had some bite to it.

Seattle jumped in front early, and for a while it looked like Bryan Woo might just slam the door. He punched out nine and kept Cleveland quiet through the first five innings before the Guardians finally cracked through in the sixth. Ramírez ripped an RBI double, Manzardo followed with a run-scoring single, and suddenly the game was tied.

The Mariners answered late and forced the extra-frame drama, with Rodríguez tying it in the ninth. But Cleveland answered right back in the 10th when DeLauter unloaded on an elevated fastball and sent it over the wall in left. Just like that, the Guardians had breathing room at 6-3.

Of course, it didn’t stay comfortable. Raley’s two-run shot in the bottom half made it a one-run game and turned the final outs into a sweat-fest. Brogdon steadied himself, got the strikeouts Cleveland needed, and the Guardians escaped with a 6-5 win and a 2-1 series lead.

📊 Notable Stats

Final: Guardians 6, Mariners 5 (10 innings)
Chase DeLauter: game-winning 2-run HR in the 10th; 4 HR through his first 3 games
Bryan Woo: 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 K
Joey Cantillo: 3.2 IP, 2 ER
José Ramírez: RBI double; reached 400 career doubles
Luke Raley: homered for the third straight game
Connor Brogdon: first save of the season

🎥 Watch the Highlights

💸 The Betting Corner

How the last game performed vs. the spread:
Seattle closed as a -1.5 favorite (-178 moneyline), while Cleveland was +1.5 (+150 moneyline). The Guardians didn’t just cover — they won outright, cashing the moneyline as the dog. The total was 7, and the game flew over after the extra-innings chaos pushed the combined score to 11.

Tonight’s upcoming game odds (FanDuel):
Mariners moneyline: -178
Guardians moneyline: +150
Run line: Mariners -1.5 (+126) / Guardians +1.5 (-152)
Total: 7 (Over -102 / Under -120)

So the board is basically telling the same story again: Seattle is still favored at home, and Cleveland is getting dog value even after taking two of the first three in the series.

📅 Next Game Details

Next Game: Sunday, March 29, 2026
Time: 7:20 PM ET
Matchup: Guardians at Mariners
Location: T-Mobile Park, Seattle
Probable Pitchers: Slade Cecconi (Guardians) vs. Emerson Hancock (Mariners)

Sources used for this post: ESPN/AP recap, Reuters, MLB, FanDuel (March 28 odds), FanDuel (March 29 odds), MLB YouTube highlights.

⚾ THE CORNER RUNDOWN: Cleveland Guardians VS. Seattle Mariners– March 27, 2026

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

The Corner Rundown: Mariners 5, Guardians 1

Date: March 27, 2026
Matchup: Cleveland Guardians at Seattle Mariners
Location: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, Washington

One night after the Guardians opened the season with a loud win, Seattle answered back Friday with a 5-1 result that evened the series at a game apiece. Cleveland got on the board immediately and looked ready to keep the early momentum rolling, but after that, the bats mostly went quiet and the Mariners made Cleveland pay for a few missed chances.

🔥 Key Performers

Chase DeLauter: 1-for-4, HR, RBI — and honestly, he is already becoming the story of this opening series. DeLauter jumped on a George Kirby slider in the first inning and launched his third home run in his first two career regular-season games.
George Kirby: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K — after giving up that early DeLauter homer, Kirby locked the game down and gave Cleveland almost nothing to work with the rest of the night.
Cole Young: 3-run HR — the biggest swing of the game. His fourth-inning blast flipped a 1-0 Cleveland lead into a 3-1 Seattle advantage.
Luke Raley: 2-run HR — added breathing room in the sixth and turned a one-swing game into a much steeper climb for the Guardians.
Gavin Williams: 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 BB — the stuff flashed at times, but the command wasn’t there often enough, and Seattle cashed in when the opening showed up.

📝 Game Summary

Cleveland came out swinging. DeLauter got the Guardians on the board in the top of the first with a solo shot to right, and for a minute it felt like Thursday’s carryover was real.

But that was basically the last clean offensive punch of the night. Seattle grabbed control in the fourth when Young connected on a three-run homer off Williams, and that swing changed the whole shape of the game. Instead of Cleveland dictating the pace, the Guardians were suddenly playing from behind.

The biggest missed chance came in the fifth. The Guardians loaded the bases with one out against Kirby and had a real shot to flip the game back in their favor. Instead, Rhys Hoskins was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a shallow fly ball to left, and the inning fizzled from there. That was the window. Cleveland didn’t get another one like it.

Seattle then landed the closing blow in the sixth when Raley took Colin Holderman deep for a two-run homer. From there, the Mariners bullpen handled the rest and the Guardians never got the offense restarted.

📊 Notable Stats

The Guardians were held to 1 run on 4 hits.
DeLauter has 3 home runs in his first 2 career regular-season games, putting him in extremely rare company.
Kirby retired Cleveland’s offense for long stretches after the first inning and allowed only two hits over six innings.
Williams issued six walks, and that kind of traffic usually catches up with you.
Seattle scored all five of its runs via the long ball: Young’s three-run shot and Raley’s two-run blast.

🎥 Watch the Highlights

Here are the MLB game highlights from Friday night in Seattle:

📅 Next Game

The Guardians and Mariners are back at it on Saturday, March 28, 2026, with first pitch set for 9:40 PM ET at T-Mobile Park.

Probable pitchers:
Cleveland: Joey Cantillo (LHP)
Seattle: Bryan Woo (RHP)

Post built from MLB, ESPN/AP, Reuters, and the official MLB YouTube highlights.

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🔥 Corner Wire: All Things Guardians — The Chase DeLauter Explosion

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Ryan Hershberger

The Corner Wire | All Things Guardians

🔥 All Things Chase DeLauter

The long-awaited Guardians prospect is off to a ridiculous start, and for now, we’re all just along for the ride.

🚀 1. A Start That Doesn’t Make Sense

Let’s just say it: this is absurd.

Chase DeLauter has already launched 3 home runs in his first 2 games, and he’s done it in only about 10 innings of actual game action. That’s not just a hot start. That’s cartoon baseball.

Naturally, that means we should do the totally responsible thing and stretch this out over a full season.

Three home runs in 10 innings puts DeLauter on pace for about 273 home runs over a full 162-game season.

Yes, 273.

That would not just break records. That would absolutely vaporize them.

Is it realistic? Of course not. Is it hilarious and fun to talk about while the bat is on fire? Absolutely.

🏆 2. The Record Chase We’re Pretending Is Real

At his current pace, DeLauter would blow past the biggest single-season home run totals the sport has ever seen.

Here are the names that own the real mountain:

Barry Bonds – 73 home runs in 2001
Mark McGwire – 70 home runs in 1998
Sammy Sosa – 66 home runs in 1998
Aaron Judge – 62 home runs in 2022

At 273, Chase DeLauter would not merely break those records. He would almost quadruple some of them and turn the record book into a comedy sketch.

Obviously, reality is coming. Pitchers will adjust. Cold streaks will happen. The league will stop throwing him anything remotely hittable. That part is guaranteed.

But the reason this is worth talking about is simple: even though the pace is ridiculous, the power itself is very real.

🧬 3. The Chase DeLauter Story

This isn’t some random out-of-nowhere baseball miracle. Guardians fans have been hearing the name Chase DeLauter for a while now, and for good reason.

DeLauter grew up in the Maryland and West Virginia area and developed into one of the most intriguing bats in amateur baseball. He went on to star at James Madison University, where he built the reputation that made him one of the most exciting hitters in the 2022 draft class.

At JMU, he was a monster. He hit for average, got on base, drove the ball, and looked like the kind of hitter who could become a complete offensive force. Big frame. Big leverage. Big raw power. But he wasn’t just a slugger. He also showed discipline and polish at the plate.

That combination is what made him so appealing to Cleveland when the Guardians selected him in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

Since then, his prospect path has had both hype and frustration. The talent has always been obvious. The issue has been staying on the field. Injuries slowed portions of his climb through the system, which is part of why fans have been waiting so long for the full breakout.

But when healthy, the production has backed up the buzz.

Throughout his prospect years, DeLauter has looked like the kind of hitter the Guardians system does not produce every day: a physically imposing outfielder with legitimate middle-of-the-order power and the ability to impact a game with one swing.

That’s why this current power surge feels loud. It’s not just because the home runs are leaving in bunches. It’s because this is the exact type of upside people have been dreaming on for years.

⚾ 4. What It Means for the Guardians

No, Chase DeLauter is not going to hit 273 home runs.

But that’s not really the point.

The point is that Guardians fans might finally be watching the arrival of a bat that changes the feel of the lineup.

Cleveland has built a strong identity around contact, pitching, pressure, and development. What this team has often lacked is a true power threat who feels dangerous every single time he steps into the box.

DeLauter has the chance to be that guy.

Realistically, the numbers will level out. The home run pace will come back to earth in a hurry. That’s how baseball works. But if he stays healthy and keeps adjusting, this can still turn into a huge story for the 2026 Guardians.

Maybe he doesn’t chase 273. Maybe he doesn’t sniff 73. Maybe he doesn’t touch any record at all.

But if he becomes a real middle-of-the-order force, a 25-to-35 home run type bat, and a lineup anchor this franchise can build around, that’s more than enough.

For now, though, it’s fair to say this:

Chase DeLauter is on fire, Guardians fans are dreaming big, and “All Things Guardians” has officially become “All Things Chase.”