Jim Ingraham: It's early but so far the Guardians have been lacking last year's magic ... and runs

The season doesn't really start for the Guardians until the Twins are in town, right? Well, the Twins are in town now, and we're still waiting for the Guardians to start their season. Anybody know the shelf life for last year's unexpectedly magical season? So far this year there have been a couple isolated semi-magical moments, but at no time has this season felt like an extension of last year's snowballing, electrifying thrill ride. Friday night the Guardians went into the first of their 13 scheduled games with Minnesota in second place, 3½ games behind the division-leading Twins. The 2023 Guardians also went into Friday night's game with a record of 14-17, one game behind the 2022 Guardians, who at the same juncture a year ago had a record of 15-16. So, no. This year's team is not an extension of last year's team. That's not how baseball works. Each season is its own entity, with its own surprises, disappointments, thrills and chills. For example, the Guardians' lack of hitting. Cleveland was a surprisingly effective and productive offensive team last season, which began with rookie leadoff hitter Steven Kwan spending the first month of the season virtually refusing to strike out, or to even swing and miss a pitch. In that first month of the season Kwan's magic wand seemed to set the tone for a lineup that lacked big bats, but not resourcefulness when it came to manufacturing runs. The Guardians rode that bus throughout the season. They seemed to create rallies out of thin air, on demand, and everyone chipped in. Nobody was sure how they did it, but they did it, repeatedly, in big moments, and won a lot of games because of it. As unexpectedly electrifying as those rallies were a year ago, they've largely been absent this season. The Guardians' run-creation machine from a year ago has spent the first month of this season coughing and wheezing and spinning its wheels. Through their first 31 games this year (in other words, going into their game with the Twins on Friday night), the Guardians had scored 116 runs, which is 37 fewer than they scored in their first 31 games last year. Hits? They had 32 fewer hits through 31 games this year (239) than at the same point last year. The team batting average has plummeted nearly 30 points, from .255 at the 31-game mark a year ago to .228 this year. In on-base percentage, they are down 16 points, from .323 a year ago to .307 this year. Their slugging percentage has fallen off a cliff. From .406 through 31 games last season, they plunged 68 points to .338 this year. In strikeouts and walks they've held steady: one more strikeout and 12 more walks than last year after 31 games. But the bottom line is the bottom line, and here's your Guardians season so far in a nutshell: through 31 games their runs scored total has fallen 37 from the same point last year, from 153 to 116. Adding insult to embarrassment: only nine of the 31 games the Guardians have played have been against teams with winning records. Oh yeah, there's also this: the Guardians, all of them, have hit 17 home runs, the fewest of any team in the majors, and only six more than Boston's Rafael Devers. Other than that, everything is seashells and balloons. What's important now is not to overreact. Thirty-one games are still just 31 games. That's only about one-fifth of the season. There will be plenty of time to panic later. Last year the Guardians had losing streaks of seven, five, four and five again, they spent 18 days in either third, fourth or fifth place in the Central Division — yet still won the division by 11 games. If you're looking for something to worry about, consider Cleveland's starting rotation, or what's left of it. Only 13 of the Guardians' 31 games have been started by pitchers who have been in the rotation since opening day: Shane Bieber and Cal Quantrill. Triston McKenzie and Aaron Civale have started a combined two games. Much of the above explains why Cleveland pitchers have the lowest strikeout rate in the majors, but the Guardians' current rotation also includes newcomers Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen, and if you've been paying attention, that alone is exciting. So is this: The Guardians still have 47 games left with the Royals, White Sox, A's, Reds, Giants, Tigers and Cardinals, who at the start of play Friday were a combined 73 games under .500. Twins, schmins, right? So what if the Guardians are off to a slow start? By the time McKenzie gets back, Bibee and Allen will be even more productive, this early, team-wide offensive slump will be forgotten and the Guardians will still be the only team in the league whose manager is Terry Francona. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com and follow him @Jim_Ingraham on Twitter.