2022 Cleveland Guardians season

The 2022 Cleveland Guardians season was the 122nd season for the franchise. This was the team's first season as the Cleveland Guardians, following the franchise's name change in light of the Cleveland Indians name and logo controversy. The team opened their regular season on April 7, 2022, on the road against the Kansas City Royals, and finished the season on October 5 at home, also against the Royals.
On December 2, 2021, Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred announced a lockout of players, following expiration of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the Major League Baseball Players Association. On March 10, 2022, MLB and the MLBPA agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement, ending the lockout. Opening Day was played on April 7. Although MLB previously announced that several series would be cancelled due to the lockout, the agreement provides for a 162-game season, with originally canceled games to be made up via doubleheaders.
The Guardians won the American League Central title for the first time since 2018 and defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALWCS, but were defeated by the New York Yankees in the ALDS in five games.

Offseason

Lockout

The expiration of the league's collective bargaining agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association occurred on December 1, 2021, with no new agreement in place. As a result, the team owners voted unanimously to lockout the players stopping all free agency and trades.
The parties came to an agreement on a new CBA on March 10, 2022.

Rule changes

Pursuant to the new CBA, several new rules were instituted for the 2022 season. The National League will adopt the designated hitter full-time, a draft lottery will be implemented, the postseason will expand from ten teams to twelve, and advertising patches will appear on player uniforms and helmets for the first time.

Summary

The Guardians signed third baseman José Ramírez to a 5-year, $124 million extension with the Cleveland Guardians. Combined with his contract extension signed in November 2021, Ramírez' new contract guaranteed nearly $150 million through 2028. The largest contract awarded in franchise history, the deal also included a full "no-trade" clause.
In Cleveland's home opener, Ramírez doubled in the ninth inning of a 4–1 defeat to the San Francisco Giants for his 1,000th career hit.
Ramírez won American League (AL) Player of the Month honors for April, having hit.342 and.722 slugging percentage, 12 runs scored, seven doubles, a triple, seven home runs, 28 RBI, and nine bases on balls over 21 games. During that month, he also reached the career milestone of 1,000 games played.
On May 26, the Guardians recalled outfielder Oscar González to the major league roster. He made his major league debut that same day, starting in right field versus the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. He singled on a line drive to center field off starting pitcher Tarik Skubal in the top of the second his for the first hit. In the ninth inning, he hit his first major league double.
On May 28 versus Detroit, Ramírez homered, tripled and drove in five runs, amounting to an MLB-leading 48 RBI through the Guardians' first 42 games, tied for third-most in club history. Of all in franchise history, only Manny Ramirez, Al Rosen and Earl Averill had equaled or surpassed José Ramírez.
Ramírez was named AL Player of the Week for the May 24–30, having recorded three home runs, three stolen bases, 11 RBI, seven total extra base hits,.348/.423/.957, three walks and one strikeout.
On June 10, versus the Oakland Athletics, González achieved his first major league four-hit game.
The Guardians clinched their 11th AL Central title, and first since 2018, on September 25 after beating the Texas Rangers, 10–4.
The Guardians set a franchise record with four Gold Glove award winners: Shane Bieber, Andrés Giménez, Steven Kwan, and Myles Straw.
Manager Terry Francona was named American League Manager of the Year.
President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti won the MLB Executive of the Year Award.

Game log

Regular season

Use background:#fbb for loss, #bfb for win, #bbb for cancelled/postponed -->

Postseason

Postseason rosters

Pitchers: 24 Triston McKenzie 31 Sam Hentges 34 Zach Plesac 37 Trevor Stephan 47 Cal Quantrill 48 Emmanuel Clase 49 Eli Morgan 52 Nick Sandlin 57 Shane Bieber 59 Kirk McCarty 62 Enyel De Los Santos 99 James Karinchak
Catchers: 12 Luke Maile 17 Austin Hedges 44 Bo Naylor
Infielders: 0 Andrés Giménez 1 Amed Rosario 6 Owen Miller 8 Gabriel Arias 11 José Ramírez 22 Josh Naylor
Outfielders: 7 Myles Straw 29 Will Benson 38 Steven Kwan 39 Oscar González 63 Will Brennan
Pitchers: 24 Triston McKenzie 31 Sam Hentges 34 Zach Plesac 36 Cody Morris 37 Trevor Stephan 43 Aaron Civale 47 Cal Quantrill 48 Emmanuel Clase 49 Eli Morgan 57 Shane Bieber 62 Enyel De Los Santos 99 James Karinchak
Catchers: 12 Luke Maile 17 Austin Hedges 44 Bo Naylor
Infielders: 0 Andrés Giménez 1 Amed Rosario 6 Owen Miller 8 Gabriel Arias 11 José Ramírez 22 Josh Naylor
Outfielders: 7 Myles Straw 29 Will Benson 38 Steven Kwan 39 Oscar González 63 Will Brennan

Player stats

Note: Team leaders are indicated in bold.

Indicates league leader.

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	SB
	16	47	9	9	1	1	1	5	.191	1
	28	55	8	10	1	0	0	3	.182	0
	8	17	1	2	0	0	0	0	.118	0
	11	42	6	15	1	1	1	7	.357	2
	12	12	2	2	0	0	0	0	.167	0
	4	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	63	145	18	29	3	0	0	6	.200	0
	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0
	24	77	9	19	3	0	0	3	.247	1
	146	491	66	146	26	3	17	69	.297	20
	91	362	39	107	27	0	11	43	.296	1
	105	294	26	48	4	0	7	30	.163	2
	28	86	10	21	5	0	2	13	.244	0
	147	563	89	168	25	7	6	52	.298	19
	6	12	0	1	0	0	0	0	.083	0
	8	15	0	2	0	0	0	0	.133	0
	76	181	19	40	10	0	3	17	.221	0
	53	119	17	25	6	1	4	16	.210	2
	130	424	53	103	26	1	6	51	.243	2
	5	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	122	449	47	115	28	0	20	79	.256	6
	54	112	7	26	6	0	0	10	.232	2
	157	601	90	168	44*	5	29	126	.280	20
	70	263	24	56	9	0	9	28	.213	2
	153	637	86	180	26	9*	11	71	.283	18
	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0
	152	535	72	118	22	3	0	32	.221	21
Team Totals	162	5558	698	1410	273	31	127	662	.254	119

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
	1	0	4.50	4	0	0	6.0	9	3	3	3	6
	13	8	2.88	31	31	0	200.0	172	70	64	36	198
	0	0	7.43	12	0	0	13.1	19	15	11	10	12
	5	6	4.92	20	20	0	97.0	93	58	53	22	98
	3	4	1.36	77*	0	42*	72.2	43	18	11	10	77
	0	0	18.00	2	0	0	2.0	6	4	4	0	0
	0	1	5.79	2	2	0	9.1	13	7	6	6	3
	5	0	3.04	50	0	1	53.1	40	18	18	17	61
	0	2	18.41	2	2	0	7.1	15	15	15	3	5
	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	1.1	1	0	0	0	0
	3	0	4.71	22	0	0	21.0	15	13	11	14	28
	3	2	2.32	57	0	1	62.0	41	17	16	19	72
	2	0	2.08	38	0	3	39.0	22	9	9	21	62
	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	2.0	0	0	0	0	0
	4	3	4.54	13	2	0	37.2	37	23	19	13	26
	11	11	2.96	31	30	0	191.1	138	65	63	44	190
	5	3	3.38	50	1	0	66.2	46	29	25	13	72
	1	2	2.28	7	5	0	23.2	21	8	6	12	23
	1	2	3.88	15	11	0	58.0	53	30	25	32	50
	3	12	4.31	25	24	0	131.2	136	74	63	38	100
	15	5	3.38	32	32	0	186.1	178	78	70	47	128
	0	0	4.50	1	0	0	2.0	3	1	1	1	1
	5	2	2.25	46	0	0	44.0	27	13	11	24	41
	6	2	5.40	60	2	1	58.1	58	38	35	26	52
	6	5	2.69	66	0	3	63.2	57	24	19	18	82
	0	0	6.00	3	0	0	6.0	8	4	4	6	2
	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0.1	1	0	0	0	1
Team Totals	92	70	3.46	162	162	51	1456.0	1252	634	560	435	1390