The Cleveland Guardians are kicking off their Cactus League slate of games on Saturday, with a split-squad matchup. Half of the team will stay in Goodyear to face the Cincinnati Reds, while every once in a while hits the road to take on the Milwaukee Brewers.

Cleveland revealed its first lineups of the new year on Saturday morning, and this is who will start for the Guardians in their split-squad showdown.

(*This is the matchup that will be available to watch on CleGuardians.TV)

For the first exhibition games of the new year, there really aren’t any surprises in either of these lineups; everyone is playing a position they’re more than familiar with. This includes Steven Kwan, who Stephen Vogt said earlier in the week will see some time in center field this spring.

As spring continues on, the Guardians may get more creative with their lineups, but playing it safe is definitely the best plan of action this early in the year.

As for Cleveland’s starting pitchers, Vogt and the organization made the decision to start Joey Cantillo and Logan Allen earlier in the week.

The rationale for having the two lefties open up Catus Leahue play was that Cantillo has been in Goodyear the longest, and is probably the most stretched out, and Allen is prepping to leave camp to join Team Panama in the World Baseball Classic. 

Still, it’d be shocking to see either pitcher throw more than three innings, or less, depending on where their pitch count gets to.

It’s important not to read too much into these early lineups, but at the very least its nice that Guardians baseball is back, even if it is just spring training games. It won’t be long before we get the first official lineup of the 2026 season. 

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