Reds vs. Guardians Historical Breakdown, Record, & Facts About The MLB Ohio Cup

The Cincinnati Reds will take on the Cleveland Guardians in a two-game MLB series starting on Tuesday night at 6:10 p.m. in Cleveland. 

This will be the second time that these teams have faced off against each other this year. The first games of the season series between the Reds and Guardians both went to the Guardians.

The first game that the Guardians played against the Reds finished at a score of 10-5, with the Guardians scoring six runs in the top of the ninth to break the 4-4 tie between the two teams. The second game finished 7-3 in favor of the Guardians as they got out to an early lead and never looked back.

Let’s look back at the historic Ohio-based rivalry between the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Guardians.

Historical Background

This MLB matchup between Cincinnati and Cleveland is one of the oldest rivalries in baseball. The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first professional baseball team back in 1869. Forest City, which was based in Cleveland, was founded shortly after in that same year.

The two teams played each other for the first time on July 2, 1869, to initiate what was soon to be a rivalry. The Red Stockings won by a score of 25-6.

Although this was a rivalry that came and went throughout history, with teams in each city disbanding and making new teams, it wasn’t until 1988 that the rivalry was officially created to be the Ohio Cup.

The story behind the Ohio Cup was fueled by the city of Columbus, which sits equidistant between the two cities. It was a way to bring in the Columbus crowds, who were split between Cincinnati fans and Cleveland fans, to draw more crowds.

The Cincinnati and Cleveland rivalry was reborn as the Battle of Ohio after Cleveland moved from the National League to the American League in 1997. The Battle of Ohio is what the rivalry is known as today.

Overall Record

The overall record between Cincinnati and Cleveland from 1997 until the present is 71-54 in favor of Cleveland. In Cincinnati, Cleveland has a 32-30 advantage, and in Cleveland, the Indians/Guardians have a 39-24 advantage. 

The longest win streak for Cleveland was six, which they did twice from 2010-2011 and 2015-2016. The longest win streak for the Reds was four from 2009-2010. The Guardians currently have a four-game win streak going from last season into this season.

Conclusion

This will be the last MLB series between these two teams for the rest of the 2022 season. They typically play four-six games a season depending on the year, but it tends to be a home-and-home matchup of either two or three games. The Reds will need to win both of these games to tie the season series and prevent another long winning streak for the Guardians.

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