Column: Guardians prove heart over payroll — but when will ownership step up?

A few thoughts from the week in sports …

The Cleveland Guardians’ incredible comeback was the talk of Major League Baseball entering the playoffs, but unfortunately, it was a short-lived postseason.

The Guardians rallied from 15.5 games behind the Tigers to win the AL Central as most fans know. However, the Motor City Kiddies then dispatched Cleveland two games to one in the Wild Card Series.

Despite a seemingly never-ending shuttle of players from Triple-A Columbus and an anemic offense, the Guards pulled off the biggest comeback since MLB went to divisional play in 1969. Cleveland’s .226 team batting average was 29th in the league and the lowest ever for a playoff club.

After the Guards were eliminated from the playoffs, I was telling a friend how proud I was of the team's players, coaches and front office for never giving up. Cleveland is seemingly always in contention for the playoffs.

Then I stopped myself and got annoyed. Imagine if the Dolan ownership group had actually spent some money? Then where would the team be?

Cleveland had the lowest payroll of all the 2025 playoff teams at $100 million. The Brewers were second-lowest at $121 million, trailing the Tigers at $157 million.

I love rooting against the highest-spending team, the Yankees, and their $300 million cash factory.

MLB teams are privately owned, except for the Braves, so they’re able to keep their finances private. Fans always get a vibe from the Dolans that money is tight, but surely they can make a bigger splash this offseason.

Several key veterans are set to return, led by Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, as well as many outstanding young players. I’d hope the Guardians would take some swings in the offseason to bring in at least one proven hitter to add some punch.

However, the Guardians’ 2025 season wrap-up press conference with reporters sounded like a repeat of recent years.

“Since I’ve been here, ownership has consistently poured back all of the revenue that we’ve generated back into the operation, whether that’s at the Major League level or throughout the infrastructure and player development, scouting, player acquisition,” President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti told reporters. “So I don’t have any reason to think that we’ll operate any differently than we have in the past.

“Now exactly where that leaves us with payroll, it’s hard to say. And I think the one thing we also have to be mindful of is just we have a lot of players that we want to provide opportunities for, both on the position-player side and on the pitching side.”

Translation: don’t expect the Guards to trade for or sign the much-needed big-time bat.

Cleveland definitely has the talent to make another playoff run, but going far in the playoffs would still be unlikely without one or two key additions. That’s not fair to future Hall of Famer Jose Ramirez, whose window is closing. He took a salary discount in part, hoping the team would invest in some help around him.

The money Cleveland did spend didn’t pay off in 2025, with Carlos Santana and Lane Thomas not contributing much.

A projected 2026 lineup of Kwan (left field), Travis Bazzana (second base), Ramirez (3B), Kyle Manzardo (DH), Chase DeLauter (center field), CJ Kayfus (first base), George Valera (right field), Bo Naylor/David Fry (catchers) and Brayan Rochhio (shortstop) could definitely contend for the playoffs with a standout group of pitchers also coming back.

But don’t fall in love with your home-grown comeback kids, Team Dolan!

Don’t give up on bringing in some firepower from the outside. Imagine what this team could do with some more offense in 2026! Open up the checkbook and make a stronger investment.

Parting shots

I suppose fans will always second-guess unless their teams go all the way and win a championship. Of course, that’s something only the 2016 Cavaliers have done in Cleveland since 1964.

I’ll take the Guardians’ ownership and front office any day over the Jimmy Haslam-led Browns. After giving Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett the bulk of the preseason reps, Flacco was traded to the Bengals this week. Pickett was dealt to the Raiders on Aug. 25.

That leaves rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders as QB one and two, further creating a path for Deshaun Watson to possibly return from injury this season. Ugh.

All of these moves lead us to believe the Browns still don’t have a clear plan at quarterback and have thrown in the towel on yet another season.

—With week eight of the football season on Oct. 10, the playoff picture has really taken shape for local teams. West Holmes (5-2), Triway (6-1), Hillsdale (7-0), Smithville (6-1), Norwayne (5-2) and Dalton (5-2) all look like strong bets to reach the postseason.

Orrville (4-3) needs a big win over Manchester or Triway to get in. Rittman has five wins, but those opponents have a combined 3-32 record, making the Tribe a long shot.

Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com.