When Travis Kelce bought a minority stake in the Cleveland Guardians, his mindset was driven by a deep love for his hometown, nostalgia for ’90s Cleveland baseball, and a desire to give back to the community that raised him. And in his first year as the co-owner of the MLB franchise, the Kansas City Chiefs TE has found a moment to celebrate.

The Guardians officially clinched the American League Central Division Championship on September 26, 2026. They defeated the Kansas City Royals 11-5 to mark their third consecutive division title and their fourth crown in the last five years under manager Stephen Vogt, and watching the Guardians, Kelce couldn’t contain his joy.

“October baseball baby!! LFG Guards!!!” Kelce wrote on Instagram Stories.

By securing the American League’s No. 2 seed, the Guardians have earned a first-round bye, and skip the high-stress, best-of-three Wild Card Series.

The bye will give the team nearly a week of much-needed rest to heal an injury-plagued roster. It also allows manager Stephen Vogt to line up his starting pitching rotation for the playoffs rather than burning his ace early.

On top of that, the team will host Game 1 of the American League Division Series (ALDS) at Progressive Field on Saturday, October 3, 2026, playing in front of their home crowd against the winner of the Astros vs. White Sox series.

Meanwhile, for Travis Kelce, having purchased his minority stake in May 2026, Kelce hits a “home run” in his very first season as an MLB investor, watching his childhood hometown team win a division title.

That said, Travis Kelce is an ardent baseball fan as well, and also competed in the sport.

Kelce’s father, Ed, coached him from T-ball all the way up through his youth. At Cleveland Heights High School, the Chiefs tight end was a three-sport athlete who lettered in football, basketball, and baseball.

During his senior year in 2008, Kelce was a dominant force on the diamond, batting an incredible .588. To that end, the Cleveland Heights’ head coach Michael Dillon even compared Kelce to a standout MLB star.

“He would have been an Aaron Judge-type player,” Dillon said.

Travis Kelce also received his earliest interest from professional sports scouts for baseball rather than football. Then came the 2010 Summer Collegiate League. While playing football at the University of Cincinnati, Kelce was suspended for the entire season after failing a drug test. Facing an uncertain future, he turned to baseball as a critical anchor and potential fallback.

Kelce spent that summer playing in a collegiate league for the Champions Baseball Academy. He was good at the sport and considered a baseball career as “plan B”.

“I could track a baseball in the outfield,” Kelce said in 2024. “Like, I felt like I would always get a chance. So it was always in the back of my mind that I had that as a plan B, which is why I tried to, you know, play in 2010 when I got kicked out of school or when I got kicked off the team for a little bit. I was always just kinda keeping that alive in a sense.”

While Travis Kelce is navigating a veteran NFL career with 13,174 receiving yards and 83 touchdowns in 194 regular-season games, the “plan B” never came to fruition. However, he still lives and enjoys baseball as co-owner of the Cleveland Guardians now.