Earlier this year, the Cleveland Indians announced that they’d be formally known as the Cleveland Guardians in 2022 and moving forward. But taking a new name is turning out to be more complicated than it seemed.

The roller derby team that also calls themselves the Cleveland Guardians decided to sue the MLB franchise in an attempt to stop the change. They had the name since 2013 before formally registering it in 2017 and believe the Indians’ decision to adopt it constitutes trademark infringement.

According to the lawsuit, detailed by ESPN, the roller derby Guardians argue that there “cannot be two ‘Cleveland Guardians’ teams in Cleveland.”

Among their demands is a request that the MLB team abandons the plans to call themselves “Guardians” while also launching a campaign to inform the public about it. In case that the Indians decide to carry on with their plans, the roller derby team wants funds that they could use on “corrective advertising.”

The MLB franchise and the roller derby team were reportedly already engaged in negotiations about the name rights but couldn’t reach an agreement. This ended up prompting the lawsuit.

The Cleveland Indians have already responded to the lawsuit with a statement in which they confirmed they are sticking with “the Guardians” name.

“We have been and continue to be confident in our position to become the Guardians,” the MLB team said in a statement. “We believe there is no conflict between the parties and their ability to operate in their respective business areas.”

While the roller derby Guardians had the name first, it is unlikely that the lawsuit will be successful since the two teams play different sports and the confusion isn’t likely to happen. The most likely outcome, however, is a settlement before the case even makes it to court.

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When the Cleveland Indians entered the spring training, Oscar Mercado was the overwhelming favorite to be the Opening Day starter in the center field. Weeks later, however, Mercado played himself out from the team’s roster entirely.

The Indians’ manager Terry Francona told reporters on Sunday that Mercado will be sent to minors and play for Triple-A Columbus for the time being.

“He needs some time and, when I say space I mean not major league games hanging over his head, to get him back to where he can help us,” said Francona. “We’ve seen it. He’s seen it. He’s felt it.”

Mercado struggled to make an impact in exhibition games this year, managing only .214 with one RBI in 10 games. This came after a disastrous 2020 campaign, in which the 26-year-old Mercado ended with a .128 batting average, six RBIs, and only one home run.

While Mercado missed an opportunity to establish himself as part of Indians’ long-term future, Francona insists that the organization still values him.

“Nobody’s giving up on him, and we wanted to make sure he understood that,” he added.

The Indians acquired Oscar Mercado in a trade with St. Louis Cardinals in 2018 and gave him his majors debut early in the 2019 MLB season. Mercado ended up having a stellar campaign as a rookie, finishing the year with a .269 batting average, 15 homers, and 54 RBIs.

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The Cy Young Award this year was won by the state of Ohio, which is where its namesake was born and played most of his career.

This year, the awards for the best pitcher in the National League and American League were awarded to Cincinnati Reds ace Trevor Bauer and Cleveland Indians star Shane Bieber.

Bauer was an absolute force on the mound this season and almost untouchable. He struck out 100 batters in 73 innings, posting a ridiculous 1.73 ERA. Bauer won the Cy Young Award decisively, earning 27-first place votes out of 30.

Bieber was actually even more impressive, posting an 8-1 record with a 1.63 ERA. He struck out 122 batters in 77.1 innings. He finished the season either alone at the top or tied for first in the league in victories, strikeouts, and ERA.

Bieber received all 30 first-place votes and is the first pitcher to receive all 30 votes since Clayton Kershaw did it in 2014.

In each of his 12 starts, Bieber struck out at least eight batters. Bauer did the same in five games.

In one game against the Kansas City Royals, Bieber struck out 14 batters, which was a season-high for him.

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Francisco Lindor era at Cleveland Indians is coming to an end. And it is most likely to be an unceremonious one.

According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Indians have decided to trade Lindor and want to get the job done before the Opening Day of the 2021 MLB season. The organization already informed interested teams about their intent and now is waiting to see what kind of package they can get for the All-Star shortstop.

Organizations rarely want to trade their star players, but this move was a long time coming for the Indians. Lindor has just one year left on his deal and hasn’t given any indications that he could resign. This would put Cleveland in jeopardy of losing him for nothing, and the organization isn’t willing to take this risk.

Another reason why Indians are looking to part ways is the financial struggles that saw them attempting to shed salary by all means possible. This even included rejecting the option on three-time All-Star reliever Brad Hand just to get out of his bargain $10 million salary.

Francisco Lindor has a slightly weaker year in 2020 by his standards, but Cleveland is expected to see a bidding war for the 26-year-old. Lindor, who is a career .285 batter, has made four consecutive All-Star teams since 2016 and has two Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Slugger Awards in his trophy case.

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Wednesday’s Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians was an absolute rollercoaster ride.

The game endured through two rain delays, a total of 12 pitchers took the mound, and four leads were blown before the Yankees emerged victorious by a score of 10-9.

With the win to complete a two-game sweep of the Indians, New York will advance to the American League Division Series, where they will face the Tampa Bay Rays.

Cleveland took an early lead, going up 4-0 after the first inning, but the Yankees bats awakened and they scored six unanswered runs to take the lead.

Two came from Giancarlo Stanton who had a solo homer and a sacrifice fly, and four came off a Gio Urshela grand slam.

The Yanks were down again entering the ninth inning, trailing 9-8, but a walk and a couple of singles loaded the bases with no outs. After a Brett Gardner strike-out, Gary Sanchez tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

To no one’s surprise, the game was won by American League batting champion DJ LeMahieu, who hit a single to get Urshela home and take the lead.

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Cleveland Indians were without manager Terry Francona in the dugout for the better part of the regular season, but this could possibly change in the playoffs. According to multiple reports, Francona will enter MLB’s postseason bubble as he is expected to rejoin the team for the postseason.

Francona previously missed 41 games this season, having experienced several health issues earlier in the year. He has been away from the team since mid-August, with first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. taking over on an interim basis.

The news was later confirmed by Cleveland’s president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti.

“He will be in the bubble with us, he will be in the quarantine,” said Antonetti. “That preserves as many options for us moving forward. It also gives Tito an opportunity to be around the team, even if it’s not in the dugout.”

Francona took over the Indians in 2013 and led the team to four postseason trips since then. He was named AL Manager of the Year twice for his work in Cleveland.

The absence of Francona didn’t put off Indians too much, as they already managed to clinch the playoff spot earlier in the week. Cleveland is currently sitting third in AL Central with a 32-24 record, but don’t find themselves too far being leading Minnesota Wild (35-22) and No.2 Chicago White Sox (34-22).

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The biggest deal of the 2020 MLB Trade Deadline went down just past noon Eastern time on Monday as the San Diego Padres acquired front-line starting pitcher Mike Clevinger in a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Indians.

Clevinger, who became one of baseball’s best starting pitchers since becoming a mainstay in Cleveland’s rotation back in the 2017 season, found himself on the trade block after a controversial incident in which he broke quarantine protocol back in July and missed three weeks’ worth of action.

Clevinger has a 3.18 ERA this season and is the owner of a career 3.20 mark with a 42-22 record.

San Diego, one of the league’s breakout teams this summer, took advantage of the rare availability of a top-of-the-rotation starter on the mid-season trade block and sent a juicy package to the Indians in exchange for Clevinger and outfielder Greg Allen.

The Padres will send pitcher Cal Quantrill, outfielder Josh Naylor, catcher Austin Hedges, shortstop Gabriel Arias, pitcher Joey Cantillo, and second baseman Owen Miller to Cleveland.

The Padres are expected to see Clevinger, who will be under their team’s control until 2023, join the club this week and make his first start with the team in the coming days.

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One of the biggest offseason dominoes this year in Major League Baseball fell as the Texas Rangers agreed to acquire starting pitcher Corey Kluber in a blockbuster deal with the Cleveland Indians.

Kluber, a two-time AL Cy Young winner during his tenure with Cleveland, will head to the AL West in exchange for outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. and minor league pitcher Emmanuel Clase.

The Rangers, who missed out in the sweepstakes for some big free agent names such as Anthony Rendon last week, made a trade that brings one of baseball’s most accomplished pitchers to their rotation for at least the next couple of years.

Kluber, a three-time All Star selection, missed the majority of the 2019 season with a pair of major injuries. First, the Alabama native suffered a broken arm on May 1st after being hit with a line drive, and then shortly after he returned, he was shelved for the rest of the season with an oblique injury.

The Rangers are betting on Kluber getting back to good health and returning to the form that saw him be one of the game’s most dominant arms throughout several years.

Kluber is expected to report healthy to Texas’s Spring Training facility in February to get started with his new club.

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The Cleveland Indians were dealt a tough blow over the weekend after finding out that All-Star infielder José Ramírez will be sidelined for an extended period of time after suffering a broken hamate bone on Sunday.

The Dominican star felt discomfort in his wrist after a swing in the first inning of Cleveland’s matinee game against the Royals on Sunday and was removed from the game.

Now, he’s expected to miss over a month with a broken bone in his hand, giving the Indians bad news at the wrong time.

Cleveland is in the heart of a playoff chase, trailing the first-place Twins by 3.5 games in the AL Central and with a slight 0.5 game lead in the AL Wild Card race.

Losing an experienced offensive spark plug like Ramírez is the last thing that Cleveland needed at this point in the season.

While 2019 hasn’t been Ramírez’s best year (.254 batting average, 21 home runs), he had been hot in the second half before suffering the injury.

Now, Cleveland is left to look for a replacement for one of its stars that will be up to the task of replacing at least some of his production as they look to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

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One of the weekend’s most anticipated series came to a close with a Cleveland Indians win that resulted in a deadlock at the top of the American League Central.

The Indians won a wild 7-3 game over the Twins on the strength of a 10th inning grand slam by Carlos Santana to push their record to 71-47, tying the Twins for the division lead with only 44 games left in the regular season.

Aaron Civale took the ball for the Indians opposite José Berríos of the Twins. Despite Cleveland’s pitcher’s unheralded status, in stark comparison to the Twins’ ace, he allowed only one run in 6 innings. Both starters departed after six innings, with Cleveland holding a 3-1 lead.

Minnesota was able to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning after Cleveland closer Brad Hand surrendered a pair of runs. In the tenth inning, however, the Indians took a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish after slugger Carlos Santana blasted a grand slam over the left-field wall.

The Indians, after trailing Minnesota by 11.5 games on June 2nd, are now even with their division rivals, setting up what should be a thrilling battle for division supremacy over the season’s final month and a half.

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Earlier this year, the Cleveland Indians announced that they’d be formally known as the Cleveland Guardians in 2022 and moving forward. But taking a new name is turning out to be more complicated than it seemed.

The roller derby team that also calls themselves the Cleveland Guardians decided to sue the MLB franchise in an attempt to stop the change. They had the name since 2013 before formally registering it in 2017 and believe the Indians’ decision to adopt it constitutes trademark infringement.

According to the lawsuit, detailed by ESPN, the roller derby Guardians argue that there “cannot be two ‘Cleveland Guardians’ teams in Cleveland.”

Among their demands is a request that the MLB team abandons the plans to call themselves “Guardians” while also launching a campaign to inform the public about it. In case that the Indians decide to carry on with their plans, the roller derby team wants funds that they could use on “corrective advertising.”

The MLB franchise and the roller derby team were reportedly already engaged in negotiations about the name rights but couldn’t reach an agreement. This ended up prompting the lawsuit.

The Cleveland Indians have already responded to the lawsuit with a statement in which they confirmed they are sticking with “the Guardians” name.

“We have been and continue to be confident in our position to become the Guardians,” the MLB team said in a statement. “We believe there is no conflict between the parties and their ability to operate in their respective business areas.”

While the roller derby Guardians had the name first, it is unlikely that the lawsuit will be successful since the two teams play different sports and the confusion isn’t likely to happen. The most likely outcome, however, is a settlement before the case even makes it to court.

The post Cleveland Indians/Guardians Sued After Name Change appeared first on SportzBonanza.

When the Cleveland Indians entered the spring training, Oscar Mercado was the overwhelming favorite to be the Opening Day starter in the center field. Weeks later, however, Mercado played himself out from the team’s roster entirely.

The Indians’ manager Terry Francona told reporters on Sunday that Mercado will be sent to minors and play for Triple-A Columbus for the time being.

“He needs some time and, when I say space I mean not major league games hanging over his head, to get him back to where he can help us,” said Francona. “We’ve seen it. He’s seen it. He’s felt it.”

Mercado struggled to make an impact in exhibition games this year, managing only .214 with one RBI in 10 games. This came after a disastrous 2020 campaign, in which the 26-year-old Mercado ended with a .128 batting average, six RBIs, and only one home run.

While Mercado missed an opportunity to establish himself as part of Indians’ long-term future, Francona insists that the organization still values him.

“Nobody’s giving up on him, and we wanted to make sure he understood that,” he added.

The Indians acquired Oscar Mercado in a trade with St. Louis Cardinals in 2018 and gave him his majors debut early in the 2019 MLB season. Mercado ended up having a stellar campaign as a rookie, finishing the year with a .269 batting average, 15 homers, and 54 RBIs.

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The Cy Young Award this year was won by the state of Ohio, which is where its namesake was born and played most of his career.

This year, the awards for the best pitcher in the National League and American League were awarded to Cincinnati Reds ace Trevor Bauer and Cleveland Indians star Shane Bieber.

Bauer was an absolute force on the mound this season and almost untouchable. He struck out 100 batters in 73 innings, posting a ridiculous 1.73 ERA. Bauer won the Cy Young Award decisively, earning 27-first place votes out of 30.

Bieber was actually even more impressive, posting an 8-1 record with a 1.63 ERA. He struck out 122 batters in 77.1 innings. He finished the season either alone at the top or tied for first in the league in victories, strikeouts, and ERA.

Bieber received all 30 first-place votes and is the first pitcher to receive all 30 votes since Clayton Kershaw did it in 2014.

In each of his 12 starts, Bieber struck out at least eight batters. Bauer did the same in five games.

In one game against the Kansas City Royals, Bieber struck out 14 batters, which was a season-high for him.

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Francisco Lindor era at Cleveland Indians is coming to an end. And it is most likely to be an unceremonious one.

According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Indians have decided to trade Lindor and want to get the job done before the Opening Day of the 2021 MLB season. The organization already informed interested teams about their intent and now is waiting to see what kind of package they can get for the All-Star shortstop.

Organizations rarely want to trade their star players, but this move was a long time coming for the Indians. Lindor has just one year left on his deal and hasn’t given any indications that he could resign. This would put Cleveland in jeopardy of losing him for nothing, and the organization isn’t willing to take this risk.

Another reason why Indians are looking to part ways is the financial struggles that saw them attempting to shed salary by all means possible. This even included rejecting the option on three-time All-Star reliever Brad Hand just to get out of his bargain $10 million salary.

Francisco Lindor has a slightly weaker year in 2020 by his standards, but Cleveland is expected to see a bidding war for the 26-year-old. Lindor, who is a career .285 batter, has made four consecutive All-Star teams since 2016 and has two Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Slugger Awards in his trophy case.

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Wednesday’s Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians was an absolute rollercoaster ride.

The game endured through two rain delays, a total of 12 pitchers took the mound, and four leads were blown before the Yankees emerged victorious by a score of 10-9.

With the win to complete a two-game sweep of the Indians, New York will advance to the American League Division Series, where they will face the Tampa Bay Rays.

Cleveland took an early lead, going up 4-0 after the first inning, but the Yankees bats awakened and they scored six unanswered runs to take the lead.

Two came from Giancarlo Stanton who had a solo homer and a sacrifice fly, and four came off a Gio Urshela grand slam.

The Yanks were down again entering the ninth inning, trailing 9-8, but a walk and a couple of singles loaded the bases with no outs. After a Brett Gardner strike-out, Gary Sanchez tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

To no one’s surprise, the game was won by American League batting champion DJ LeMahieu, who hit a single to get Urshela home and take the lead.

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Cleveland Indians were without manager Terry Francona in the dugout for the better part of the regular season, but this could possibly change in the playoffs. According to multiple reports, Francona will enter MLB’s postseason bubble as he is expected to rejoin the team for the postseason.

Francona previously missed 41 games this season, having experienced several health issues earlier in the year. He has been away from the team since mid-August, with first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. taking over on an interim basis.

The news was later confirmed by Cleveland’s president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti.

“He will be in the bubble with us, he will be in the quarantine,” said Antonetti. “That preserves as many options for us moving forward. It also gives Tito an opportunity to be around the team, even if it’s not in the dugout.”

Francona took over the Indians in 2013 and led the team to four postseason trips since then. He was named AL Manager of the Year twice for his work in Cleveland.

The absence of Francona didn’t put off Indians too much, as they already managed to clinch the playoff spot earlier in the week. Cleveland is currently sitting third in AL Central with a 32-24 record, but don’t find themselves too far being leading Minnesota Wild (35-22) and No.2 Chicago White Sox (34-22).

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The biggest deal of the 2020 MLB Trade Deadline went down just past noon Eastern time on Monday as the San Diego Padres acquired front-line starting pitcher Mike Clevinger in a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Indians.

Clevinger, who became one of baseball’s best starting pitchers since becoming a mainstay in Cleveland’s rotation back in the 2017 season, found himself on the trade block after a controversial incident in which he broke quarantine protocol back in July and missed three weeks’ worth of action.

Clevinger has a 3.18 ERA this season and is the owner of a career 3.20 mark with a 42-22 record.

San Diego, one of the league’s breakout teams this summer, took advantage of the rare availability of a top-of-the-rotation starter on the mid-season trade block and sent a juicy package to the Indians in exchange for Clevinger and outfielder Greg Allen.

The Padres will send pitcher Cal Quantrill, outfielder Josh Naylor, catcher Austin Hedges, shortstop Gabriel Arias, pitcher Joey Cantillo, and second baseman Owen Miller to Cleveland.

The Padres are expected to see Clevinger, who will be under their team’s control until 2023, join the club this week and make his first start with the team in the coming days.

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One of the biggest offseason dominoes this year in Major League Baseball fell as the Texas Rangers agreed to acquire starting pitcher Corey Kluber in a blockbuster deal with the Cleveland Indians.

Kluber, a two-time AL Cy Young winner during his tenure with Cleveland, will head to the AL West in exchange for outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. and minor league pitcher Emmanuel Clase.

The Rangers, who missed out in the sweepstakes for some big free agent names such as Anthony Rendon last week, made a trade that brings one of baseball’s most accomplished pitchers to their rotation for at least the next couple of years.

Kluber, a three-time All Star selection, missed the majority of the 2019 season with a pair of major injuries. First, the Alabama native suffered a broken arm on May 1st after being hit with a line drive, and then shortly after he returned, he was shelved for the rest of the season with an oblique injury.

The Rangers are betting on Kluber getting back to good health and returning to the form that saw him be one of the game’s most dominant arms throughout several years.

Kluber is expected to report healthy to Texas’s Spring Training facility in February to get started with his new club.

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The Cleveland Indians were dealt a tough blow over the weekend after finding out that All-Star infielder José Ramírez will be sidelined for an extended period of time after suffering a broken hamate bone on Sunday.

The Dominican star felt discomfort in his wrist after a swing in the first inning of Cleveland’s matinee game against the Royals on Sunday and was removed from the game.

Now, he’s expected to miss over a month with a broken bone in his hand, giving the Indians bad news at the wrong time.

Cleveland is in the heart of a playoff chase, trailing the first-place Twins by 3.5 games in the AL Central and with a slight 0.5 game lead in the AL Wild Card race.

Losing an experienced offensive spark plug like Ramírez is the last thing that Cleveland needed at this point in the season.

While 2019 hasn’t been Ramírez’s best year (.254 batting average, 21 home runs), he had been hot in the second half before suffering the injury.

Now, Cleveland is left to look for a replacement for one of its stars that will be up to the task of replacing at least some of his production as they look to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

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One of the weekend’s most anticipated series came to a close with a Cleveland Indians win that resulted in a deadlock at the top of the American League Central.

The Indians won a wild 7-3 game over the Twins on the strength of a 10th inning grand slam by Carlos Santana to push their record to 71-47, tying the Twins for the division lead with only 44 games left in the regular season.

Aaron Civale took the ball for the Indians opposite José Berríos of the Twins. Despite Cleveland’s pitcher’s unheralded status, in stark comparison to the Twins’ ace, he allowed only one run in 6 innings. Both starters departed after six innings, with Cleveland holding a 3-1 lead.

Minnesota was able to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning after Cleveland closer Brad Hand surrendered a pair of runs. In the tenth inning, however, the Indians took a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish after slugger Carlos Santana blasted a grand slam over the left-field wall.

The Indians, after trailing Minnesota by 11.5 games on June 2nd, are now even with their division rivals, setting up what should be a thrilling battle for division supremacy over the season’s final month and a half.

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