The Indians have had varied degrees of success and failure during their long history and most fans know the big years (1920, 1948, 1954, 1995-1999, 2001 and 2007) and readily assume that the years in between were all disappointments. While the Indians were unable to make the post-season in 2014 despite more play-off teams than ever before, there may have been other Cleveland teams who could have taken advantage of those extra spots. Prior to 1969, only the top team from each league would advance to the World Series and between 1969 and 1995, only the winners of the four divisions (two AL and two NL) would advance to the post-season. Firmly placed into the what if category of thinking, we’ll take a look back into the past and see what the Wild Card era could have done for the Tribe if it had begun from the beginning, way back in 1901.
1901-1915
Back in 1901, the Indians were an expansion team called the Blues in the first official year of the American League. At that point, the league had just eight members and while some of these changed through the years, it would remain at eight members until 1961. Assuming the current rate of 33% (five of 15) of AL teams making the play-offs, this means between two and three teams should have made the post-season from the AL from 1901 through 1960. For this case of this revisionist history, we will assume that the initial eight team league would have been divided into two divisions, an East and a West, with one Wild Card team.
Despite expanding initially in 1901, the Blues/Bronchos/Naps posted an above .500 record first in 1902 and would have been one of three play-off teams, had they existed, in 1903. That season was the first under the Naps moniker and with the new team leader Napoleon Lajoie along with four starters with ERA’s below 2.50, lead by one of the two greatest pitchers in Indians history, Addie Joss, finished the season third in the AL behind Boston and Philadelphia. Assuming the two divisions would be Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Washington in the East and Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis in the West (at least until some teams change), the Naps would have won their first Division title in just their second season.
From 1902 through 1915, the core of this team was largely kept together and with our fantasy play-offs, the Naps would have returned again as the Wild Card team in 1906 (behind the White Sox and Yankees), 1908 (behind the Tigers in the West) and 1911 (behind the Athletics and Tigers). Of these seasons, 1908 was the best for Cleveland as they lost just one more game than Detroit, finishing .004 percentage points away from going to the World Series. While not quite as good of a team, based on our arbitrary divisional assignments, the Indians would have won the West in 1913 as they finished behind two East coast teams in Philadelphia and Washington.
1916-1926
Moving away from the Joss and Lajoie era, the Indians added future Hall of Famer Tris Speaker as well as Stan Coveleski while moving towards the team’s first World Series title in 1920. While most know about this season, what has been forgotten is that with multiple play-off teams, they would have also made the post-season every other season from 1917 through 1921, 1923 and 1926. In 1917 it would just have been a Wild Card, as they finished behind the White Sox and Red Sox, but they finished second in the AL in 1918, 1919 and 1921, winning the arbitrary West in two of the three seasons as the Red Sox & Yankees took the East in 1918 (Indians 2.5 games back) and 1921 respectively (Indians 4.5 GB). In 1919, the infamous Chicago Black Sox would have won the West (Indians 3.5 GB). In 1923 and 1926, the Indians would finish behind the Yankees two more times (something that became a running theme), winning the artificial Wild Card in 1923 and West title in 1926 (3 GB).
1927-1935
Another generational change occurred in Cleveland from the 20’s to the 30’s as Speaker was replaced by Earl Averill and the power hitting Hal Trosky made his debut. In fact, the offense was among the best in baseball in the 1930’s despite no real World Series appearances. In our fictional history, however, they would have had a few. In 1929, despite finishing 24 games behind the Athletics and six behind New York, the Indians were still the best team in the West & the third best overall, a feat they repeated in 1934 and 1935, when they would have won an AL Wild Card (behind the Tigers and Yankees each year).
1936-1943
Continuing on that early success in the 1930’s and building toward an actual World Championship in 1948, now with Bob Feller and Lou Boudreau added to the mix, finished third in the AL in 1938 and 1939 behind the Yankees and Red Sox each season. Based on our new assumptions, the Indians would have won the Western Division each year, then returned to the play-offs again in 1940, when they finished just a single game behind the AL Champion Tigers. After a couple years off, the Indians would have returned to the play-offs in 1943, winning the West as the Yankees and Senators would have taken the East and the Wild Card.
1944-1956
The next Indians play-off appearance was the real one from 1948, but in our fantasy world, they would have returned again in 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 (an actual World Series appearance), 1955 and 1956. This team, centered by a tremendous rotation of Feller, Bob Lemon, Gene Bearden and later on Early Wynn and Herb Score, was likely the greatest in Indians history. In addition to the pitching staff, the offense was also tremendous with Hall of Famers Boudreau, Joe Gordon, Larry Doby along with 1953 AL MVP Al Rosen. Of those artificial play-off entrances listed above, each from 1951 through 1956 (excluding 1954) was a second place finish to the Yankees, including one finish within two games back in 1952. If there were divisions a few decades early, the Indians would have won the West every year from 1948 through 1956 except for 1950 and would have likely seen more than two World Series appearances.
1957-1993
After Frank Lane decimated the roster that was so successful earlier in the decade, including the trades of Score and Rocky Colavito, the Indians wouldn’t see much success for a very long time. In 1959, they finished second in the AL behind the White Sox, making them a Wild Card team in our scenario, just five games back of the pennant. It would be until 1968 before the Indians would finish as high as third in the league again and that would only have been a Wild Card finish as they ended third among ten teams. This team, again a powerful pitching roster with Sam McDowell and Luis Tiant in their prime, would be the last potential Indians play-off team until the 1990’s.
1994-2011
In 1994, the Wild Card actually existed as did the current divisional format. With 28 teams, assuming a second Wild Card just yet would be premature, but the Indians wouldn’t have needed one in 1994, in fact, they just needed the play-offs to be played at all. When the strike hit, the Indians were in second place in the AL Central and advancing, finishing third overall in the American League. Had the season been finished and the positions not changed, Cleveland would have been the first Wild Card team ever, instead of not gaining that position until 2013.
After 1998, there were 30 Major League teams, so it is fair, in our revisionist history, to add in the second Wild Card. The Indians would have been able to take advantage of this twice between then and 2012 when it was actually instated. The first time was in 2000 and would have extended their lengthy play-off run, instead of from 1995 through 1999, through 2001. In 2000, the Indians finished just one game behind Seattle for the AL Wild Card. In addition, they finished just five games behind Chicago and three ahead of the top team in the East, the Yankees. Since it was these Yankees who would eventually go to the World Series that year, it is possible that had the Indians been able to win a second Wild Card, they could have not only made the play-offs, but had a deep run. A few years later, in 2005, the Indians would finish behind the White Sox again (this time by six games) and just two games behind the Red Sox for the Wild Card. With a second Wild Card, this wouldn’t have been an issue and the group, including Grady Sizemore, C.C. Sabathia and Travis Hafner, could have gained some play-off experience before their ultimate upset in 2007.
While all this is generally meaningless, it is worth looking back in time to see that the Indians have been a much greater franchise than they are generally given credit for. Instead of a team that made the play-offs ten times in more than 110 years of history, had about 30% of the teams in the league made the post-season each year, they would have went 40 times. Even excluding a Wild Card option, the Indians still had 12 second place AL finishes from 1901 through 1968 and had there simply been two rounds to the play-offs, they would have been involved.
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