The Cleveland Guardians are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Cleveland, Ohio; until 2021, they were known as the Cleveland Indians. They play in the American League Central division. The first game of the new baseball season is played on Opening Day, and being named the starter that day is an honor, which is often given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season, [1] though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day. [2] Since joining the league in 1901, the Indians have used 58 different Opening Day starting pitchers which includes the Opening Day starting pitchers from the Bluebirds and the Naps. They have a record of 58 wins and 54 losses in their Opening Day games. [3] [4]
The Indians have played in three different home ball parks, League Park from 1901 through 1946, Cleveland Stadium from 1932 to 1993, and Progressive Field since 1994. From 1934 through 1946 some games were played at League Park and some at Cleveland Stadium. They had a record of 11 wins and 4 losses in Opening Day games at League Park, 9 wins and 13 losses at Cleveland Stadium and 2 wins and 4 losses at Progressive Field, for a total home record in Opening Day games of 22 wins and 21 losses. [3] Their record in Opening Day away games is 35 wins and 35 losses. [3] [5] [6]
Bob Feller has the most Opening Day starts for the Indians, with seven. Stan Coveleski had six Opening Day starts for the Indians, Bob Lemon and CC Sabathia each had five Opening Day starts, and Addie Joss, Willie Mitchell, Gaylord Perry and Charles Nagy each had four. [3] Several Baseball Hall of Famers have made Opening Day starts for the Indians, including Feller, Coveleski, Lemon, Joss, Gaylord Perry, Dennis Eckersley and Early Wynn. [7] Brothers Jim Perry and Gaylord Perry each made Opening Day starts for the Indians. [3] [8] [9] Jim Perry started on Opening Day in 1961 and Gaylord Perry made Opening Day starts in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975. [3]
The Indians have played in the World Series six times. They won in 1920 and 1948, and lost in 1954, 1995, 1997, and 2016. [10] Coveleski was the Opening Day starting pitcher in 1920, Feller in 1948, Wynn in 1954, Dennis Martínez in 1995, Nagy in 1997, and Corey Kluber in 2016. The Indians are five and one in Opening Day games in those seasons, with the only loss coming in 2016. [3] The Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays currently hold the record for the longest Opening Day game in Major League history. They set that record on Opening Day 2012, when the game lasted 16 innings. This broke the previous record of 15 innings between the Indians and the Detroit Tigers in 1960. [11]
W | Win |
---|---|
L | Loss |
T | Tie game |
ND (W) | No decision by starting pitcher; Indians won game |
ND (L) | No decision by starting pitcher; Indians lost game |
(W) | Indians won game; no information on starting pitcher's decision |
(L) | Indians lost game; no information on starting pitcher's decision |
Final score | Game score with Indians runs listed first |
Location | Stadium in italics with for home game |
(No.) | Number of appearances as Opening Day starter with the Indians |
* | Advanced to the post-season |
** | American League champions |
World Series champions | |
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since 1994, they have played at Progressive Field. Since their establishment as a Major League franchise in 1901, the team has won 10 Central division titles, six American League pennants, and two World Series championships,. The team's World Series championship drought since 1948 is the longest active among all 30 current Major League teams. The team's name references the Guardians of Traffic, eight monolithic 1932 Art Deco sculptures by Henry Hering on the city's Hope Memorial Bridge, which is adjacent to Progressive Field. The team's mascot is named "Slider." The team's spring training facility is at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona.
Gaylord Jackson Perry is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for eight different teams from 1962 to 1983. During a 22-year baseball career, Perry compiled 314 wins, 3,534 strikeouts, and a 3.11 earned run average. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his third year of eligibility in 1991.
Stanley Anthony Coveleski was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for four American League (AL) teams between 1912 and 1928, primarily the Cleveland Indians. The star of the Indians pitching staff, he won over 20 games each year from the epidemic-shortened 1918 season through 1921, leading the AL in shutouts twice and in strikeouts and earned run average (ERA) once each during his nine years with the club. The star of the 1920 World Series, he led the Indians to their first title with three complete-game victories, including a 3–0 shutout in the Game 7 finale. Traded to the Washington Senators after the 1924 season, he helped that club to its second AL pennant in a row with 20 victories against only 5 losses, including a 13-game winning streak, while again leading the league in ERA.
Wesley Cheek Ferrell was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball from 1927 through 1941. Primarily a starting pitcher, Ferrell played for the Cleveland Indians (1927–33), Boston Red Sox (1934–37), Washington Senators (1937–38), New York Yankees (1938–39), Brooklyn Dodgers (1940) and Boston Braves (1941). He batted and threw right-handed.
In Major League Baseball, the 300-win club is the group of pitchers who have won 300 or more games. Twenty-four pitchers have reached this milestone. This list does not include Bobby Mathews who won 297 in the major leagues plus several more in 1869 and 1870 before the major leagues were established in 1871. The New York Gothams/Giants/San Francisco Giants are the only franchise to see three players reach the milestone while on their roster: those players are Mickey Welch, Christy Mathewson, and Randy Johnson. Early in the history of professional baseball, many of the rules favored the pitcher over the batter; the distance pitchers threw to home plate was shorter than today, and pitchers were able to use foreign substances to alter the direction of the ball. Moreover, pitchers started games far more frequently than modern pitchers do; in the second half of the 1884 season Old Hoss Radbourne started every other game. The first player to win 300 games was Pud Galvin in 1888. Seven pitchers recorded all or the majority of their career wins in the 19th century: Galvin, Cy Young, Kid Nichols, Tim Keefe, John Clarkson, Charles Radbourn, and Mickey Welch. Four more pitchers joined the club in the first quarter of the 20th century: Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Eddie Plank, and Grover Cleveland Alexander. Young is the all-time leader in wins with 511, a mark that is considered unbreakable. If a modern-day pitcher won 20 games per season for 25 seasons, he would still be 11 games short of Young's mark.
The 1920 World Series was the championship series for Major League Baseball's 1920 season. The series was a best-of-nine format played between the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians and the National League (NL) champion Brooklyn Robins, with the Indians defeating the Robins five games to two. The only World Series triple play, the first World Series grand slam and the first World Series home run by a pitcher all occurred in Game 5 of this Series. The Indians won the series in memory of their former shortstop Ray Chapman, who had been killed earlier in the season when struck in the head by a pitched ball.
James Timothy "Mudcat" Grant Jr. was an American baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal Expos, St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, and Pittsburgh Pirates from 1958 to 1971. He was a two-time All-Star.
James Evan Perry, Jr. is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched from 1959 to 1975 for four teams. During a 17-year baseball career, Perry compiled 215 wins, 1,576 strikeouts, and a 3.45 earned run average.
This is a list of award winners and league leaders for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball.
The 1920 Cleveland Indians season was the 20th season in franchise history. The Indians won the American League pennant and proceeded to win their first World Series title in the history of the franchise. Pitchers Jim Bagby, Stan Coveleski and Ray Caldwell combined to win 75 games. Despite the team's success, the season was perhaps more indelibly marked by the death of starting shortstop Ray Chapman, who died after being hit by a pitch on August 16.
Corey Scott Kluber is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. He made his MLB debut in 2011 as a member of the Indians. A power pitcher, Kluber achieves high strikeout rates through a two-seam sinker and a breaking ball that variously resembles a slider and a curveball.
Shane Robert Bieber is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted by the Indians in the fourth round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft. Bieber made his MLB debut with Cleveland in 2018, was named an All-Star in 2019 and 2021, and received the American League's 2020 Cy Young Award.
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