After Trade, Cleveland Guardians Four Away From Historic Achievement

ANAHEIM, CA: Michael Bourn lines of his three hits against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on August 21, 2013 at Angel Stadium. Cleveland's 3-1 win was the 9,000th in franchise history. (Photo by Paul Spinelli/MLB via Getty Images)

MLB via Getty Images

The Cleveland Guardians are in what could be an historic 10-team battle for a 2026 playoff berth in the American League. They are also four wins away from making a different kind of history: 10,000 regular-season victories.

The Guardians made a trade today try and help them achieve both goals. Cleveland sent catcher Bo Naylor and pitcher Codi Heuer to the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Blake Perkins and reliever Craig Yoho.

Perkins, a switch-hitter with little power fills a need as a good defensive center-fielder and perhaps sets up a bigger deal with another team involving Cleveland fan favorite Steven Kwan and maybe a pitcher for an outfielder with more pop at bat.

What happens before the trade deadline on Monday at 6 p.m. ET, will play a role as clubs are trying to improve their rosters.

As for Cleveland’s run at 10,000 wins, only the New York Yankees (10,934) and Boston Red Sox (10,102) have more in the American League, which began Major League play on April 24, 1901. The Cleveland Blues lost that first game, 8-2, in Chicago to the White Sox.

Chicago’s Roy Patterson threw the first pitch, a ball, to Cleveland’s Ollie Pickering, who flew out to center as the first batter in league history. Jack McCarthy followed with the first hit, an infield single. Chicago’s Fielder Jones drew the first walk and scored the first run in the bottom of the first on a two-run single by Fred Hartman.

Happy 150th Birthday, National League

Eight teams have surpassed the 10,000-victory mark in regular-season play in the National League, which started in 1876:

• New York / San Francisco Giants: 11,669.
• Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers: 11,594.
• Chicago Cubs: 11,481.
• St. Louis Cardinals: 11,417.
• Boston / Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves: 11,255.
• Cincinnati Reds: 11,069.
• Pittsburgh Pirates: 10,069.
• Philadelphia Phillies: 10,360.

Three of these NL franchises changed cities during their history. In the AL, the Yankees actually accumulated all their wins since the start of the 1903 season, when they were known as the New York Highlanders. A New York franchise replaced the Baltimore Orioles, who folded after two seasons. Those Orioles wins are not counted in the current Baltimore team’s totals, nor those of the Yankees.

The current Orioles totals do include 48 wins by the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers who became the St. Louis Browns – and all of that team’s victories from 1902 until 1953 are counted as Orioles’ triumphs. The Browns moved to Baltimore for the 1954 season.

Playing In Both Leagues

Cleveland is one of many cities to have had a franchise in both leagues. The Cleveland Spiders were in the NL from 1887 to 1899. New York (Yankees/Mets), Chicago (Cubs/White Sox) and Los Angeles (Dodgers/Angels) have been that way for decades. Boston (Braves/Red Sox), Philadelphia (Phillies/Athletics) and St. Louis (Cardinals/Browns) used to be that way.

The Houston Astros switched from the NL to the AL in 2013 to give both leagues 15 teams. The NL had 16 and the AL 14 since 1998 when the Milwaukee Brewers went into the NL from the AL. That was to avoid both leagues having 15 apiece and with uneven teams every day on the schedule having one team idle.

When the leagues decided to increase inter-league play, Houston moved because the odd-team out problem was no longer valid.

Cleveland’s Landmark wins

The most interesting aspect of the first nine “historic” victories for the franchise is that four came with a player-manager and one with a pitching coach managing for the first time.

No. 1,000, Sept 1, 1913:

In the first game of a home doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox, William (Lefty) James got the first of his two career wins, 6-2. He went 2-7 in 31 games (1912-14) for the Cleveland Naps. Player-manager Nap Lajoie went 3-for-4 this day as the cleanup hitter behind Shoeless Joe Jackson (0-for-3, 2 runs).

No. 2,000, Sept. 6, 1926:

Player-manager Tris Speaker went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer to lead Cleveland to a 7-6 win at St. Louis in the first game of a doubleheader against the Browns. Indians shortstop Joe Sewell had four of his 65 walks for the season. The future Hall of Famer struck out only six times that year.

No. 3,000, July 21, 1939:

The Indians’ Al Milnar (5-6) pitched a complete game, twice fanning Mickey Vernon of the Washington Senators in a 5-2 home win. The rookie first baseman played until 1960 in 2,406 games for four teams without a post-season trip. He was with Washington until 1948, traded to Cleveland, back to Washington in 1950 and again to Cleveland in 1958. He managed the Senators, 1961-63.

No. 4,000, Aug. 10, 1950:

Future Hall of Famer Bob Lemon (18-5) pitched a complete game and hit two doubles, raising his batting average to .289 in a 5-4 win at St. Louis. Jim Delsing had two hits as the Browns’ cleanup hitter. A year later, Delsing pinch-ran for 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel after the legendary diminutive pinch-hitter walked in his only time up, wearing uniform No. 1/8. Lou Boudreau followed Lajoie and Speaker as player-managers to get a millesimal victory.

No. 5,000, Oct. 1, 1961:

Jim (Mudcat) Grant pitches a complete game to win at Los Angeles, 8-5, and finish with a 15-9 record. Tribe rookie Walter Bond goes 4-for-5 with a triple and grand slam. The Angels’ Leon (Daddy Wags) Wagner goes 3-for-4 with his 28th homer, but is twice thrown out on the bases by a Cleveland outfielder. Pitching coach Mel Harder managed Cleveland as Jimmy Dykes was fired that morning, ending his 22-year managerial career with a 1,406-1,541 record (103-115 with Cleveland).

No. 6,000, May 25, 1975:

Dennis Eckersley blanked the defending World Series champion Oakland A’s, 6-0, on a complete-game, three-hitter in his first career start. The win in the opener of a home doubleheader gave him a 2-0 record and kept his ERA at 0.00. He had worked 13 1/3 scoreless innings over 10 relief outings to open his career. Rico Carty went 4-for-5 and player-manager Frank Robinson doubled for the Indians.

No. 7,000, Sept. 28, 1988:

Greg Swindell improved to 18-14 and Doug Jones got his 35th save for Cleveland in a 4-3 home win over Detroit . Dave Clark had two RBI and Joe Carter and Mel Hall one apiece for the Tribe. Matt Nokes and Fred Lynn drove in the Tigers’ runs.

No. 8,000, April 22, 2001:

Wil Cordero had three hits and seven other Indians had two apiece in an 11-3 home rout of the Tigers. Jim Thome and Juan Gonzalez for Cleveland and Detroit’s Bobby Higginson hit homers. The victory made it a three-game sweep and followed consecutive walk-off wins over Detroit on a bases-loaded single by Einar Diaz and a two-run, 11th-inning homer by Thome.

No. 9,000, Aug. 21, 2013:

Michael Bourn went 3-for-4, Justin Masterson improved to 14-9 and Chris Perez got his 20th save in a 3-1 win at Anaheim over the Angels. Terry Francona improved to 69-58 in his first year as Cleveland manager.

A month later, the Indians won their final 10 games and 15 of their last 17 to secure a wild-card playoff berth.

Cleveland Guardians’ 2026 Future

Along with a third of MLB’s 30 teams, the Guardians are trying to get to the playoffs in what looms as the wildest, wackiest chase in history.

Cleveland started play today ties with Houston and Minnesota, each with 56-55 records and three games behind Boston and AL Central leading Chicago. Texas is a half game behind the Guardians, Baltimore 1.5 back, Seattle three back, a half-game ahead of Detroit and 1.5 ahead of Toronto.

Fasten your seat belts, this could be a crazy rollercoaster finish.

In 2013, the Cleveland Guardians went on an impressive winning streak and gained a playoff berth shortly after gaining win No. 9,000. The team hopes history repeats after No. 10,000 in 2026.