Another week full of positives including Shaquille O’Neal because why not?
In a week with five wins, it’s difficult to choose just three positive things to write about. But on a Monday morning, that’s not such a bad thing.
The main thing that plagued the Guardians in 2023 was their lack of power. It wasn’t a problem in 2022 when the team made it to the playoffs via infield hits and getting on base, but it just didn’t work last season. So they hit the cages and went to work over the offseason, and the results are proving all of their hard work is paying off.
Through 74 games in 2023, the Guardians had 48 home runs. Through 74 games so far this year, they’ve hit 86, a total they didn’t reach until game 119 last year (via @reddlikeroses on Twitter). While heavy-hitter José Ramírez is usually the one to thank for this, everyone in the lineup has been pulling their weight this year. According to Zack Meisel, Josh Naylor has tied his career high in home runs with 20, and Steven Kwan has set a new high with seven. And it’s not even July yet.
If you’ve read my What Makes a Favorite Player article, you know that Meg (@shuddupmeg) is a huge fan of Austin Hedges – perhaps the biggest. In that article, I mentioned that Meg hadn’t yet met Hedges. That all changed on Friday. Prior to the game, I was sitting on pins and needles as she posted updates about her flight being delayed. Would she make it to the game in time? Would she see Austin before he had to start warming up?
I was able to breathe a sigh of relief after she posted she had made it to Cleveland. She described how Guardians’ broadcaster Andre Knott helped to get Austin’s attention. He told Knott that he had to go warm up, but he gave Meg a wave which made her day. I knew she was happy with that and a Guardians win when all of the sudden, the next tweet I saw was a picture of her and Hedgey. Once again, I was reminded of how amazing this team and all of its employees and players are.
Following Saturday’s game, DJ Diesel set up shop on the field and spun records for the team and fans alike. Don’t know who DJ Diesel is? Yes, you do. It’s none other than Shaquille O’Neal. Fans were able to stay after the game and join Shaq on the field to listen to him rock the house. The fans weren’t the only ones having fun, just head over to the Guardians social pages to see Steven Kwan, Tyler Freeman, Hunter Gaddis, and many more getting down. With Shaq. Just like you had always imagined.
