This Cleveland Guardians season feels more like a bird flying into a mirror than a team that played in the American League Championship Series last season against the New York Yankees.

I desperately want to throw in the white flag and face the reality of being 15 games behind the Detroit Tigers in the Central Division after coming off a 10-game losing streak.

The 10-game losing streak tied the franchise record for the third longest. The longest losing streak occurred almost 100 years ago, when the franchise lost 12 games in a row in May 1931. If you are looking for a silver lining, the team did finish two games over .500 that season. It didn’t seem that bad because fans didn’t have to suffer watching that streak on TV, which was in its infancy then.

The wild card race puts just a faint flicker of hope if you believe this team is just in a funk. They have faced baseball’s best teams over the last two weeks. It’s hard to believe this is just a bump in the road when all but two players are hitting better than .238. That’s a nice way to put it. The Guardians are putting lineups on the field with multiple everyday starters hitting below .180. It’s a complicated watch when you are praying that Stephen Kwan and Jose Ramirez can take every at-bat.

During the 10-game losing streak that ended July 7, the Guardians only scored more than two runs twice. They were shut out five times in the 10-game span.

The All-Star break can’t get here fast enough.

I will always strive to find a silver lining. The last game of the streak and the streak breaker gave me a tiny ray of sunshine. If Bo Naylor had stopped a passed ball with two strikes and two outs on July 6, the boys would have walked away with a win in a game that Detroit’s Tarik Skubal started. A day later, though, the losing streak finally ended in Houston, where the Guardians rallied for seven runs to beat the Astros. They followed that off with an exciting 10th inning on July 8, thanks to an Angel Martinez grand slam in Houston. The Guards actually have a chance to sweep the Astros, heading into an 8:05 p.m. finale in Houston on July 9.

Now, if you want a little hope, the Guards woke up on July 9 “just” 5 ½ games back on the final wild card spot.

The issue with the wild-card spot is that six teams are ahead of Cleveland for the third and final playoff spot.

Why is this season different than last year? It’s simple. The franchise tried to roll back the same team that struggled to score runs a season ago. They replaced a .300 hitter in Josh Naylor with Carlos Santana.

On the outside, things went sideways with Naylor in the clubhouse. He didn’t fit the image. I’m not looking for the perfect player. But, when you look at Jose Ramirez’s numbers down almost 50 RBI this year, any help is better than watching these guys struggle night after night at the plate.

The Guardians had a chance to bring up Chase Delauter from Triple-A Columbus over the weekend. They didn’t because they are concerned about his health.

I rarely say this for a front office I respect, but this has to be one of the lowest points in the Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff era.

Not only is the team bad at the plate, but it is brutal in the field. This team hovers near the bottom of baseball in almost every defensive stat.

They can’t make up their minds on settling on everyday starters. It may be a computer, the front office, or the manager who is making most of the decisions. No matter who it is, it’s hard to watch.

It’s even more difficult when every other call is to throw up the white flag and trade players like Emanuel Clase and Stephen Kwan. It is unbelievable to get rid of players who can help a franchise for a long time.

We are like Pavlov’s dogs. We hear the bell. The fans’ reaction is to know we have limited time left with Kwan, and have very little hope he will be with the team beyond this contract. It’s not fun.

Do yourself a favor. Don’t look at the return on investment from the Francisco Lindor trade to the Mets. It’s empty at the major league level.

I hear it all the time about the Dolans’ ownership of the team. Fans call in the radio show all the time questioning how much they spend and when they will sell the team.

Most people are aware that David Blitzer and his group hold a minority share of the team with an option to become the majority owners in or around 2028.

If it were you, would you buy the team? Baltimore sold for $1.725 billion. You have to believe that Blitzer group could cash out and make a lot of money. They wouldn’t have had to make a single decision.

The team and the franchise are at a crossroads.

Let’s hope things get moving into the wild card mix before the Cleveland Browns quarterback carousel starts spinning in Berea on July 25.

If you have a suggestion for a column idea for Andy Baskin, send him an email at columnists@cjn.org. He can be heard on “Baskin & Phelps” weekdays on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland at audacy.com.