Why did the Cleveland Guardians change their name? Look back amid ALCS series with Yankees

The 2024 Cleveland Guardians are making a playoff run under first-year manager Stephen Vogt, with star third baseman Jose Ramirez and an elite bullpen doing the heavy lifting to get them to an ALCS showdown with the mighty New York Yankees .

But even just a few years ago, the Cleveland MLB team went by a different moniker, with logos to match. For more than 100 years, the Major League Baseball team in Cleveland used Native American terms and logos.

MLB playoffs: Tickets for Yankees vs. Guardians in the ALCS are pricey. Here's what you'll have to pay

But as criticism continued to mount from Native American communities and elsewhere that using the imagery as a team mascot was offensive and belittling, Major League Baseball and Cleveland opted to make a change.

When did the Cleveland Guardians change their team name?

Cleveland made the change to the Guardians in 2021 after first discontinuing the mascot and logo but still using the original nickname.

Their first season as the Guardians came the following season in 2022.

Actor and Cleveland baseball fan Tom Hanks was even part of the name change announcement at the time.

What is the origin of Cleveland Guardians name? What are the Guardians named after?

The Guardians are named after the Art Deco statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge near Progressive Field in Cleveland.

The statues are known as the "Guardians of Traffic" or "Guardians of Transportation."

Some other names that were reportedly in contention were "Spiders" (a previous team name from the 1800s), "Rockers" and "Blues" among many others.

The Cleveland Guardians were sued over their name change, but not by who you might think

There was a lawsuit filed against the Cleveland Guardians over the name change. But it wasn't angry fans.

Instead, it was a local roller derby team.

The two sides settled the dispute.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Why did the Cleveland Guardians change their name? Look back amid ALCS series with Yankees