Welcome to the black void of the All-Star break, where festitivies have ended, the All-Star Game is finished, and we’re left with nothing until Friday. Truly, a test of will for baseball fans in the dog days of July.
While players enjoy their time off fishing or playing Mario Kart or whatever they do, it’s the perfect time to for the rest of us to start looking ahead to the second half of 2022.
For the Guardians, the first half was a mix of high highs and very low lows. They experienced the arrival of Andres Gimenez; the spectacular debuts of Steven Kwan, Nolan Jones, and Oscar Gonzalez; Emmanuel Clase earning an All-Star nod with an unhittable slider/cutter combination; Triston McKenzie pitching 21-straight scoreless innings and flirting with a no-hitter; and Owen Miller tearing the cover off the ball for a solid month-plus.