Axios Cleveland

March 26, 2026
⚾ Happy Thursday. It's baseball season!
🎧 Sounds like: "If It Isn't Love" by New Edition
🌧️ Today's weather: Light rain likely, with a high of 68 and a low of 34.
Today's newsletter is 974 words — a 3.5-minute read.
1 big thing: Guards are back — if you can stay awake
The Cleveland Guardians open their 2026 season on the road tonight in Seattle.
Why it matters: Snag an afternoon nap or chug an energy drink after dinner if you expect to stay awake for a game with a first pitch at 10:10pm ET.
The big picture: Despite the third-lowest payroll in the Majors, Cleveland has built a consistent contender — winning back-to-back AL Central titles and two consecutive Manager of the Year awards for Stephen Vogt.
- But the Guards also have the longest World Series drought in baseball, having last won in 1948.
Driving the news: The 2026 roster looks familiar, if slightly younger. The penny-pinching front office made no moves of significance this offseason and is hoping that internal growth will pave the road to success.
Zoom in: Tanner Bibee gets his first Opening Day start and leads a strong rotation that includes Gavin Williams, Slade Cecconi, Joey Cantillo and Parker Messick.
- Stars José Ramírez and Steven Kwan remain the lineup's anchors.
- Veteran Rhys Hoskins, most recently of the Brewers, was ostensibly acquired to boost an offense that ranked among the league's worst last year.
Yes, but: Hoskins hit only 12 home runs with a batting average of .237 for Milwaukee last year.
Between the lines: Cleveland is leaning heavily on a wave of young talent.
- Prospects Chase DeLauter, CJ Kayfus and Kyle Manzardo are expected to take on bigger roles in an anemic offense that scored the fewest runs in baseball last season.
📺 Where we're watching: All over the place, evidently. The four-game series against Seattle will air in multiple locations beyond CleGuardians.TV.
- AppleTV will have the Friday game, while Peacock takes over Sunday night with a more reasonable first pitch at 7:20pm.
- Otherwise, a team spokesperson says to expect the same cable providers from last year to air games this season.
What's next: The home opener is next Friday against the Chicago Cubs.
- The new blue seats at Progressive Field should be fully installed.
2. 🎶 New Edition eyes Rock Hall nod
Few artists in recent memory have embraced their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination as much as New Edition.
The intrigue: Each member of the group — Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant — has feverishly promoted the Rock Hall's Fan Vote on social media.
- The Boston-born R&B act currently leads the annual poll by a solid margin over the likes of Phil Collins, P!NK and Luther Vandross.
What they're saying: "It's one of those bucket list things," Tresvant tells Axios.
- "It's rare that all of the members in a group are still here to witness this happening. It'd be a blessing to stand up there all together for an honor like that."
Reality check: Winning the Fan Vote by no means guarantees induction.
- The top seven vote-getters constitute a single "fan ballot" added to a pool of more than 1,200 voters.
Yes, but: Just the nomination caps an incredible six months for New Edition, a group that dominated the 1980s and became the archetype for the modern boy band.
State of play: Last year, the city of Boston declared Aug. 30 "New Edition Day." Boston renamed a portion of the street in the Roxbury neighborhood, where most of the members grew up, "New Edition Way."
- The group even named its current tour "The New Edition Way." The trek stopped in Cleveland a few days before this year's Rock Hall nominees were revealed.
What's next: The members say they'll continue to promote the Rock Hall nomination and keep their fingers crossed for when the class of 2026 is announced next month.
- "Some things come with patience," Bivins says. "The focus is on us now, and it feels just like it's our time."
3. The Terminal: The news is getting fishy
🏟️ The Brook Park Planning Commission unanimously approved a preliminary development plan for the new Browns stadium, but asked for additional gameday parking spaces. (Cleveland.com)
🍣 Two new sushi concepts are arriving in Cleveland: Domo Sushi on Lorain Avenue in Ohio City and Sushi by Boū, an Omakase Sushi Bar, at the Ritz-Carlton downtown. (Cleveland Scene)
🏥 The Sisters of Charity Health System this week announced a $3 million funding commitment to a new Behavioral Health Crisis Center whose funding picture has been in flux. (Sisters of Charity)
🎭 Cleveland Public Theatre is embarking on a $12 million renovation in Detroit-Shoreway. (Cleveland.com)
4. 🇳🇵 The best thing I drank this week...
👋 Sam here. The best things I drank this week were a pair of Nepalese lagers from Himalayan Restaurant in Cleveland's Jefferson neighborhood.
State of play: Himalayan advertised on Instagram that it now sells the imported bottled beers, and I made a plan to visit as soon as I had an evening free.
Vibe check: Himalayan is one of my favorite Indian/Nepalese restaurants in town, though the weeknight dine-in atmosphere can sometimes feel like an afterthought, as a large portion of its business is carryout.
- Fear not. The food speaks for itself.
🍺 What I drank: I sampled the available Nepalese options, "Nepal Ice" and "Mustang" — each of which arrived ice cold and disclosed its bubbly, golden character when poured into Himalayan's goblets.
- Each was $5 and featured a borderline-skunky funk that I associate with Stella Artois.
- Standard imported beers, in other words!
Verdict: Alongside Himalayan's decadent sauces and addictive naan — I order the garlic varietal, as a rule — the beers were mostly a novelty.
- But for my money, the novelty is often the point.
🇳🇵 Sam is delighted to learn that the flag of Nepal is the world's only national flag that is non-quadrilateral in shape!
- Keep that in your back pocket for your next trivia round.
🎟️ Troy is securing his tickets for the Guardians' home opener on April 3.
This newsletter was edited by Tyler Buchanan.
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