Basketball season is over, but Cleveland’s reign as champions is just beginning. When the Cavaliers secured the city’s first major championship in 52 years on Sunday night, the people of Cleveland were more energized than perhaps ever before, and rightly so. The celebration Sunday night was 52 years in the making.
The sweetness of a championship undoes all of disappointment and defeat that precluded the Cavaliers historic comeback. Which leads me to this question: is the city ready to embrace the Cleveland Indians again? The Indians were Cleveland’s pride and joy in the 1990’s. Today, Progressive Field is the worst attended stadium in all of baseball, despite the Tribe sitting in first place in the AL Central.
No doubt, this hasn’t happened by accident: after all the success the beloved 1990’s teams experienced, Clevelanders have watched as the Tribe has only made the playoffs three times since the turn of the century. Even worse, the team hasn’t even won a playoff game since 2007.
While the team was losing more often than winning, Indians fans suffered even more when some of their favorite players were traded away in the late 2000’s, highlighted by All-Stars CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, and Victor Martinez.
As a result, it seems that the city has grown to distrust the Indians. Despite posting winning records for the past three years, and making numerous renovations to Progressive Field, Cleveland’s attendance has continued to decline.
Now that basketball season is over, can the jubilation that came from the Cavs championship result in Cleveland getting excited about the Indians again? Only time will tell, but no doubt, it should.
Cleveland – if you haven’t noticed by now, the Indians are a very good team.
As previously mentioned, the Indians are in first place in their division, and ten games above .500 for the first time since 2013. The projections at Fangraphs.com give the Indians an 80% chance at making the playoffs (third best in the AL), and a 10% chance at reaching the World Series (second best in AL).
What makes it so likely that the Indians will make a deep playoff run? The biggest reason is their starting pitching, which is arguably the best in the American League. The Tribe’s rotation ranks first in the AL in Wins Above Replacement, FIP and xFIP, second in K/9 and BB/9, and third in ERA.
However, the Indians have more than just great pitching: they have been good on offense as well, averaging 4.74 runs per game, which is ninth best in all of baseball. Their walk-rate is the sixth best in the MLB at 8.7%, and they also have stolen 54 bases this season, good for third among the 30 MLB teams.
To round things out, Cleveland’s defense is very strong according to various metrics: By UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) the Indians’ fielders rank third in baseball. Meanwhile, the Indians have converted 71.8% of all balls in play into outs, giving them the fourth-best defensive efficiency rating in the MLB.
As unlikely as it seems, the Cleveland Indians have great starting pitching, a strong defense, and an above-average offense. Even beyond that, they have star power. Corey Kluber is a Cy Young winner, Jason Kipnis is a two-time All Star, and Francisco Lindor has legitimately been one of the best position players in the game since he was promoted to the MLB a little over a year ago.
Barring terrible injuries, things are only going to get better for Cleveland. President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti recently said the Indians will have the opportunity to improve at the trade deadline, saying, “I don’t expect that we’ll be limited. In fact, the years in which we’ve been in contention, ownership’s always been great about providing us the resources that we would need to improve the team.”
The injured Michael Brantley, the Tribe’s best hitter since 2014, also figures to return to the lineup later this season, which will provide another big boost to the Indians. Yet for all the positivity and optimism that can reasonably surround the Indians this year, only an average of 16,549 people attend each game. That doesn’t even fill up half of the stadium.
Maybe the Indians’ success this season has flown under the radar due to all the excitement around the Cavs. Now, as the Cavs are finished with their season and the city celebrates its newfound championship status, the focus needs to shift toward their once beloved baseball team. If a fraction of the devotion shown to the Cavaliers over the past few weeks was given to an Indians team that has a chance to be just as good, Progressive Field would no longer be more than half empty on most nights.
It is time to pay attention to the Indians, Cleveland. If you don’t, you very well could miss another championship this year.
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