This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

As if there was any doubt, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve already learned after just the second game of the season that the Guardians will be sticking to their small-ball ways this year.  

Sure, the team is hoping for more home runs with the addition of Josh Bell in the heart of the order. Maybe his threat in the cleanup spot will allow José Ramírez to see better pitching and therefore lead to more long balls for him, as well.

But what we watched Friday night told the story: Small ball works for this club. And if it works, why make any changes?

It was the story every single night (or at least it seemed that frequent) last year. Heads-up baserunning, soft-contact base hits and playing sound defense created a recipe for the youngest team in baseball to win 92 games and claim an AL Central division title.

“That's what they do,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said after Friday’s contest. “They grind you out. They are very aggressive running the bases. They're really athletic. They're a good team.”

Let’s take a look at three instances from Friday night that proved we’re in store for a similar approach in 2023:

Kwan’s grit
Aside from Steven Kwan being the story of the night for the Guardians in their first victory of the season, plating five runs and picking up two hits, he proved why he’s the ideal leadoff hitter.

Even when he’s not getting on base, Kwan is making an impact in the batter’s box. His first at-bat resulted in a strikeout, but he started the night by forcing Mariners starter Robbie Ray to throw nine pitches. In the fourth inning, he served a two-run double down the left-field line on the eighth pitch of his at-bat and also picked up a single on eight pitches later in the night.

Kwan was a large reason why Ray threw 91 pitches in just 3 1/3 innings, ending his evening much earlier than he would’ve anticipated. Kwan helped the hitters behind him see plenty of pitches before they got in the box. But most importantly, he started to get his team back in its usual scrappy ways.

Capitalizing on mistakes
This is when we all knew Guardians baseball was back.

In the top of the second, Myles Straw came to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out. He lifted a ball into right field that wasn’t going to be deep enough to score Oscar Gonzalez from third base -- or so anyone thought.

Gonzalez took a few steps off the bag to draw a throw, but as the ball was in flight toward the plate, it clipped Mike Zunino, who was standing on first base, on the shoulder, sending the ball off its path. Gonzalez didn’t hesitate and broke for the plate as the ball found its way to Ray, who was standing in foul territory, backing up the play. But Ray decided to make an off-balance throw to his catcher and the ball ended up near the first-base dugout.

In typical Guardians fashion, Andrés Giménez, who started the play on second base, came around to score.

“I thought our baserunning was excellent,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said.

José, the baserunning wizard
Speaking of baserunning.

Everything about the Guardians starts and ends with Ramírez. He’s the most charismatic person in the clubhouse. He’s proven to be the most reliable hitter in the lineup. He’s solid defensively at the hot corner. But it’s his baserunning that’s arguably the most impressive.

A simple move in the eighth inning showed us this.

Ramírez was on second base. Bell hit a sharp ground ball to third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who had more than enough time to stare Ramírez all the way back to second base, seemingly preventing him from advancing. But what Ramírez noticed was Suarez was far off the bag and no other fielder was in the area to cover third base for him. So as Suarez committed to throwing across the diamond, Ramírez took off and found himself on third base -- a play most wouldn’t have made after nearly going all the way back to second.

“He just has an unbelievable clock or however you want to put it,” Francona said. “He sees the field so well. It just never ceases to [amaze]. And made it look easy.”

The Guardians know they have to play a different style of game than the traditional approach you see from today’s teams. To get the entire roster to buy into that idea, the club needed to have its leader set the example. And the more he does little things like he did in the eighth inning on Friday, the better the Guardians will be.

“He’s definitely our leader and guys look up to him,” Francona said, “and when you have your best player that plays like that, that sends a great message.”