Apparently, it is best to sleep on the Cleveland Guardians.
At least that’s what a former colleague who follows the Guards suggested when I told him I went to bed Oct. 8 before Cleveland staged fifth and sixth-inning comebacks to defeat the Chicago White Sox 9-5 in Game 4 and even the American League Division Series at 2-2, with the deciding Game 5 happening Oct. 10 in Cleveland.
“Keep hitting the sack early,” I can hear him saying.
These Guardians are a pesky bunch, much like many of Cleveland’s baseball teams over the past three decades. Cleveland has not won a World Series since 1948, but has reached the Fall Classic four times since, making them the Buffalo Bills/Minnesota Vikings of Major League Baseball.
It is perplexing that Cleveland is a Browns
town despite the Clowns doing next to nothing to earn fans’ support, while the Guardians consistently overachieve and make good on ROI.
It is exactly opposite of what has happened in Cincinnati over the same three decades. The Queen City always was a baseball town, until two things happened: 1. The 1994 strike that wiped out the postseason, turning off Cincy’s old-school fanbase; and 2. The Reds became the Deads. At least the Bengals have shown a pulse since the COVID pandemic.
Hard to believe the Reds have not won a playoff series since I covered them for The Dispatch in 1995. That team flamed out in the National League Championship Series, getting swept by Atlanta, which went on to defeat Cleveland in the World Series. But at least those Reds won something. Since then, the team has made the postseason five times, losing series to Philadelphia (2010), San Francisco (2012), Pittsburgh (2013 one-game wild card), Atlanta (2020) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2025).
Making fun of the Browns and Blue Jackets is habit. The Reds, at least in Columbus, largely have escaped the same snarky critique, maybe because older Cincinnati fans continue to cling to the memory of having been elite during the Big Red Machine era. But that was 50 years ago.
Even if the Guardians fail to advance to the ALCS against Tampa, they deserve an attaboy for consistently giving Cleveland fans a contender to follow. The Reds, meanwhile, continue to put their fans to sleep.
Alleged hazing at Olentangy and legal fight at St. Charles
A few thoughts on two cases that continue to attract attention in Columbus-area high school sports.
First, the ugly situation at Olentangy Orange, where allegations of hazing on the girls soccer team have shrouded the school district in more negativity.
I thought hazing had been tossed in the trash, along with the bullying of freshmen and no water breaks during practice, but as Bruce Springsteen sings, “I guess there’s just a meanness in this world.”
The Dispatch reported exclusively that videos of an alleged hazing incident – dubbed “the kidnapping” by its participants – show Orange players binding younger team members’ wrists, blindfolding them and force-feeding them uncooked hot dogs and sardines. Other accusations include making girls wear adult diapers and being subjected to sexually explicit questioning. A school inquiry led to coach suspensions and the removal of students from the team.
It’s all bad, but what stood out was a comment from Olentangy Local Schools Board president Brandon Lester, who said at the Oct. 8 board meeting that it is the district’s responsibility to address hazing, “but it is also a community responsibility.”
Bingo. Hazing happens because it is allowed to happen, which is to say too many parents and coaches condone the action by keeping quiet or eye-rolling the accusations as if to say, “Kids will be kids.”
The hazing allegations also make me wonder what is going on in the Olentangy district. Every school district runs into problems, but in the past three years Olentangy has seen a Liberty wrestling coach accused of fudging wrestlers’ win-loss records to gain sectional seeding advantages, a Liberty baseball coach reprimanded and 19 players suspended for underage drinking violations during a spring break trip, and Liberty hockey coaches reprimanded before eventually resigning because allegations surfaced of the staff using profane, abusive and sexist language.
A different situation continues to play out at St. Charles, where the boys soccer team is in a legal fight with the Ohio High School Athletic Association over its postseason tournament placement.
An administrative error led to the team staying in Division II when it wanted to opt up to Division I. A court initially ruled in the school's favor, but the OHSAA is appealing the decision.
I understand why St. Charles would want to move up a division, to compete against the best. But to take the dispute to court, where legal fees have to cost in the thousands? Is that hubris I smell?
Judge Jeffrey M. Brown’s original decision favored St. Charles for, among other reasons, irreparable harm to athletes who would be denied a chance to play in the big-school division.
“The Court focuses its analysis on ensuring the overriding principal (sic) that blameless student-athletes should not be punished for the errors of the adults,” according to the decision.
Interesting. So who is going to tell soccer players from Division II Westerville North and Thomas Worthington that it is a form of punishment to play in a “lesser” division?
Off-topic
My mother turned 98 this week, which means she was born a year before the Great Depression hit. Amazing. She’s mentally sharp as a tack, and snarky as ever, in case you wonder where I get it. She attended Bowling Green, where she met my father, at the same time as actress Eva Marie Saint, who just died at age 102. Must have been something in the BGSU water that promoted longevity.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Guardians wake as Reds fall asleep; hazing allegations at Orange H.S.
