The Cleveland Indians’ win streak hit 18 games on Sunday. After a year in which the focus has been on either the Astros or the Los Angeles Dodgers, are Terry Francona’s Indians the team to beat as we head toward the postseason? Las Vegas has a split verdict. The Dodgers are still THE team to […]
The state of Ohio has enjoyed a good sports run recently. They won the national championship in college football with Ohio State, reached the NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers and both teams looked primed for a lot more in the seasons to come. Baseball hasn’t gone so well, with the Reds and Indians each […]
…the Indians are still breathing in the wild-card discussion. They’re 4 ½ games back of the Seattle Mariners for the final playoff spot. Cleveland joins the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays as teams that are holding on by their fingernails, and all three also have to pass Detroit on the way to catching Seattle. Here’s nine points that are affecting the Tribe’s playoff chances—past, present and future and for better and for worse.
Cleveland’s start to the season met the promise, as they won 17 of 25 and had a two-game lead over Detroit. At a time when the NBA had the city’s attention, the Tigers-Indians promised a baseball corollary to the impending battle between the Cavaliers & Pistons, as well as the ever-present Ohio State-Michigan football rivalry.
Terry Francona brought the Cleveland Indians rolling back into relevance in his first year on the managerial job in 2013. The Tribe, which hadn’t been a serious factor since their 2007 run to the American League Championship Series, won 92 games and made the playoffs. Now we have to see if Tito can do it all over again with a team that’s let some key veterans go. TheSportsNotebook offers its Notebook Nine, our focal points on this year’s Cleveland Indians…
The American League Central is starting to become where the action is as we hit the last day of baseball prior to the All-Star break. The Cleveland Indians have ripped through three successive series against contenders, playing good baseball. Not only are the Tribe keeping pace with the red-hot Chicago White Sox, with only a three-game margin coming into Sunday, but Cleveland is squarely in the middle of the wild-card race and could be even with Baltimore by day’s end.