Guardians Season in Review: Frankie de la Noche

Guardians Season in Review: Frankie de la Noche

– byMario Crescibene

Frankie de la Noche was different from Gus Marlowe and Professor Saber in that he only technically appeared once this season—though his creation was preceded by a detective article that served as a proof of concept. That first noir piece was also the first time I stepped outside my usual voice and wrote in an entirely different style.

Up to that point, my writing had followed a pretty clear progression. My first fan post was a classic Crescibene smackdown of ESPN’s Watchability Index—pure fire, pure indignation, very much in the same voice as my anti-corruption writing on Medium. The next two articles were more traditional baseball analysis, focused on the player pipeline and the GM pipeline within the Cleveland organization. Those pieces were still written in my voice, but structurally they were recognizable as standard sports analysis.

The detective article broke from all of that. It wasn’t just a tonal shift; it was a structural one. And as far as I’ve been able to tell, no one else is doing sports journalism quite like this.

Early in the season, after my first few fan posts, I wrote a one-off detective noir piece that explored the Guardians roster as a mystery. At that point, there was no Frankie de la Noche. What I was really doing was experimenting with style—seeing if I could write a roster analysis in a completely different way. Instead of presenting information directly, I treated the roster like a case file. It was a risk, but it worked.

The response to that article made it clear that style itself could carry meaning, and that a strong narrative voice could make familiar information feel fresh again. At the time, I didn’t know I was laying the groundwork for a recurring character. I just knew it was a style I wanted to return to later.

Once Gus Marlowe had established himself as a recurring presence, I realized I needed other recurring characters to join him. That’s when the idea of a detective character took shape—a way to return to the noir style, but this time with a defined voice behind it rather than just an experiment in form.

That’s when Frankie de la Noche was born.

Frankie is the dramatized version of my internal dialogue when I’m trying to make sense of roster construction, call-ups, logjams, and front-office decisions that don’t quite add up. In Frankie’s first true appearance, I introduced him in his office at Progressive Field—a single light glowing beneath a door on the fourth floor, late at night, rain tapping against the windows. It was a classic noir setting, and a deliberate callback to the original detective article. Noir characters are inseparable from their environments, and I wanted readers to feel like they were stepping into Frankie’s space in an immersive way.

That said, Frankie is still very much a character in formation. The setting is established. The tone is established. The function is established. But his mannerisms, rhythms, and specific quirks are still emerging. Characters like this aren’t built all at once; they reveal themselves through repetition.

That was something Gus taught me over the course of the season. His abrupt entrances, clipped phrasing, and chaotic exits weren’t planned in advance—they were discovered over time. They came from seeing him in different situations and letting consistency form naturally. Frankie is now going through that same process of discovery.

Frankie de la Noche will certainly be back as there will be no shortage of roster mysteries next season. I already know there are other settings where Frankie belongs—and yes, there will absolutely be a late-night encounter under a bridge in the Flats. Maybe Frankie has an informant. Maybe someone slips him an inside scoop.

The goal going forward is the same one I had with Gus: to make Frankie feel immediately recognizable. I want readers to know his voice the moment he starts talking. When Frankie shows up, it should feel like running into someone you’ve met before.

In review, Frankie de la Noche this season was more of an exploration than a finished product. He emerged out of a stylistic experiment, found a purpose once the cast of characters began to take shape, and made his first real appearance with more potential than polish. And that’s fine. That’s how characters should start. Where it goes from here… only Frankie knows.

So what do you think? Did the noir pieces work for you? Did Frankie feel like someone worth revisiting? And when the next mystery comes along, would you like to see him take another case?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.