Albernaz's gift upon return to Cleveland? An office of kid-sized furniture, decor

CLEVELAND -- If Craig Albernaz hadn't been back in Cleveland, he may have been surprised by what he saw when he went into the visiting manager's office at Progressive Field on Thursday afternoon ahead of the Orioles' series opener vs. the Guardians.

Albernaz opened the door and immediately spotted a kid-sized desk with a miniature chair. The rest of the furniture in the room also would have been a better fit for one of Albernaz's three young kids (particularly his toddler daughter, Gigi). The shower contained a Spider-Man curtain and mat, while much of the other decor featured popular TV kid's show star Bluey.

This was clearly the work of Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, who was ribbing his former right-hand man and longtime friend. Albernaz was Cleveland's bench coach in 2024, then became the associate manager in '25, before getting hired as Baltimore manager this past offseason.

"It's awesome," Albernaz said. "So what I'm going to do is I'm going to have [visiting clubhouse manager] Willie [Jenks] package everything up and send it back to Baltimore and make sure Vogty gets the shipping receipt, so he can pay for it. He's two-time [American League] Manager of the Year, he can get off his wallet one time."

This is the dynamic between Vogt and Albernaz -- the 6-foot Vogt poking fun at the 5-foot-8 Albernaz, with the barbs traded back and forth. And it goes back long before their two-year run together on the staff of the Guardians, who won the AL Central both years the duo was together.

Vogt and Albernaz were both Minor League catchers in the Rays' system from 2007-12. They each interviewed for Cleveland's managerial opening ahead of the '24 season, and after Vogt was hired, he brought in Albernaz to coach alongside him.

Now, the friends are rival MLB skippers going head-to-head for the first time during this weekend's four-game set in Cleveland.

"We talk all the time, but it's always good to catch up in person," said Vogt, who attended Albernaz's introductory press conference at the Camden Yards warehouse in November. "It's going to be fun. It's going to be a little weird looking across the dugout, seeing him over there."

What would Albernaz have said during his playing days if he was told he and Vogt would one day become managing counterparts?

"That you were out of your mind. 'There is no way that this would happen,'" Albernaz said. "We used to say it to each other all the time for the past two years, 'Can you believe they let us do this?' So I think it's very surreal, for us to [go from] catching 1,000 bullpens on the Minor League side, being in big league camp together and now both being big league managers and going up against each other.

"To even say it out loud doesn't seem right. But here we are."

For much of Spring Training, Albernaz praised Vogt for his willingness to share the tasks in Cleveland. Albernaz believes he was ready to become an MLB manager because of that, and he continues to feel that way through the first 18 games of his big league managerial career.

Albernaz made a strong impression on the Guardians' players, coaches and staff during his time here. So there will be plenty of catching up happening throughout the upcoming weekend.

"He was extremely smart. He really knew how to relate to players, but also really knew the game, especially the in-game stuff," Cleveland catcher David Fry said. "He was really good at that. I think everybody in here knew at some point he was going to get a manager job."

Given Albernaz's reputation as a hard-nosed guy and a baseball lifer, nobody on the Guardians' side was surprised to see him make a quick return to the dugout earlier this week after getting hit by a foul liner in the dugout on Monday. Albernaz has a fractured jaw and at least seven fractures in his right cheek -- with bruising still below his eye -- yet he was back managing Tuesday night.

"That's him," Vogt said. "He probably got about 100 text messages from Cleveland people who care about him, making sure he was OK. And then, as soon as he said he was OK, the jokes started flying in. We were all very, very concerned for Craig."

Albernaz appreciated the support, and he is still working through unanswered texts, as his phone has been blowing up all week. But he knew his friends from the Guardians would be among the many to reach out.

Now, however, those friends are about to become opponents. And while there won't be any trash talk between Vogt and Albernaz -- they're each focused on prepping their individual teams -- this series will surely be special.

"Vogty, he's such an amazing person," Albernaz said. "I bounce a lot of stuff off him, he still does to me. So that's a relationship we're always going to keep. Obviously, we're competitors for this series, so it's going to be a fun time."

MLB.com Guardians reporter Tim Stebbins contributed to this story.