The Tribe Is For Real

With the Cleveland Cavaliers having won the NBA Championship last month, there is now a different buzz in the city. The Cavaliers title run marks the city’s first major professional sports title since 1964 when the Cleveland Browns won the National Football League Championship. And the Cavs mojo is rubbing off onto another team in the city which would be the Cleveland Indians. The Indians are the hottest team in Major League Baseball as they have won their last 14 games which has seen them take over first place in the American League Central and in the process they have built a seven-game lead over the second place Kansas City Royals. And now the folks in Cleveland are beginning to think about October baseball as this Indians team is for real.

Terry Francona is in his fourth year as the Indians manager and he has gotten this club back on track. In 2013, Francona was able to get the Indians to the playoffs for the first time since 2007, but they lost in the American League Wild Card Game to the Tampa Bay Rays. The last two years have seen the Indians finish with winning records, but they were unable to make it back to the postseason.

What has helped the Indians here in 2016 is that they didn’t get off to an extremely slow start like they did in each of the last two years. This April saw the Indians go 10-11 as compared to being 11-17 over that same stretch in 2014, and 7-14 at that point last season. By mid-May, the Indians found themselves above .500 and they have not looked back. The Indians have defeated the teams that they’ve needed to which is reflected in their 24-10 record against the American League Central. The Tribe has only lost three series within the A.L. Central this year which includes them going 9-0 against the Detroit Tigers, and 7-4 versus the Kansas City Royals who are the defending World Series Champions as this is a squad that appears ready to hang around in the divisional race until the end of the season.

Two more things that have hurt the Indians over the past two years have been injuries and a lack of quality starting pitching which has not been the case here in 2016.

The Indians team earned run average of 3.34 is tops in the American League and they are getting contributions from their entire pitching staff. Each Indians starting pitcher currently has a winning record and the rotation is led by pitcher Danny Salazar who has a record of 10-3 with an earned run average of 2.22. This run by Salazar also includes him throwing 7 innings of shutout baseball this past Wednesday in Cleveland’s 3-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Starting pitcher Josh Tomlin is 9-1 with an earned run average of 3.32, while Corey Kluber who was the 2014 A.L. Cy Young Award winner is bouncing back after losing 16 games in 2015. On the season Kluber in 8-7 with an earned average of 3.50. In Kluber’s last four starts, he has thrown a pair of complete games, along with hurling 8 innings of two-run baseball this past Tuesday night in the Indians 5-3 victory over the Braves.

But the best pitching performance by the Indians pitching staff was saved for yesterday when they only allowed one run during their 2-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The contest lasted 19 innings and it even required starting pitcher Trevor Bauer who was scheduled to start today to pitch the final five innings in relief. However it showed the Indians resiliency as they never gave in to a Blue Jays lineup that is one of the best offensive unit in Major League Baseball.

Cleveland is also getting contributions in middle relief through relief pitchers Bryan Shaw, Zach MacAllister, and Dan Otero who then give the baseball to Cody Allen to close out games in the ninth inning as his 17 saves are seventh in the American League.

It’s been a workman like approach for the Indians offense all year long as they are not equipped with stars, but each night it is a different guy that is stepping up to get the big hit. Designated hitter Carlos Santana is currently leading the club in home runs with 17, and it was his home run in the 19th inning yesterday that broke the 1-1 tie. Veteran first baseman Mike Napoli is in his first year with Cleveland and he is second on the Indians in home runs with 16. But it is Napoli’s veteran presence that Francona covets as he knows what it takes to win as he was a member of the Boston Red Sox World Series Championship team in 2013, while also appearing in the Fall Classic with the Texas Rangers in 2011. The same can be said for veteran third baseman Juan Uribe who has won the World Series with both the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants, while also helping the New York Mets get there last October. And in spite of the adversity that the Indians lineup has faced this year which includes them not having a healthy Michael Brantley in the outfield, or the news that they won’t have the services of outfielder Marlon Byrd for the rest of the year after he failed his second drug test, this lineup just continues to find a way.

With the first half of the Major League Baseball season winding down, the Indians have the opportunity to finish strong and distance themselves from the pack. After the Blue Jays this weekend, Cleveland has a seven-game home stand which will see them host the Tigers and New York Yankees. And if the Indians aren’t careful they could find themselves easily 20 games above .500 heading into the All-Star break which will make things much easier for the team’s president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti as he looks to solidify Cleveland’s chances of being a World Series contender here in 2016.

The Cavaliers run to the NBA Championship has given the City of Cleveland a new life, and the Indians are definitely looking to bask in it as well.