Among American League contenders the Cleveland Indians are the one that doesn’t belong. The Indians don’t have 100-plus wins like the Boston Red Sox do or the Houston Astros are on pace to get. Cleveland isn’t playing .600-plus ball like the New York Yankees and Oakland A’s. In fact, the Indians aren’t even clearly the […]
The Cleveland Indians have lurked below the headlines of the American League so far this season. The Tribe are on a pace to win 89 games in a league where four teams are on a pace to win 100-plus. But none of those teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Astros, Mariners) are in the AL Central, so […]
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 Detroit Tigers have won this division each of the last four years, but the gap is clearly narrowing—most obviously by the fact that it was Kansas City who went storming through the American League playoffs. Detroit also has to keep an eye on the Cleveland Indians, who made the playoffs two years ago and posted a winning record last year under the leadership of Terry Francona.
…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.
The American League wild-card race has five teams vying for the final spot in the playoffs. Assuming that the runner-up in the Oakland A’s/LA Angels race for the AL West title will be in the wild-card game, that leaves five more teams within five games of each other for the last spot. Those teams are, in order of the current standings, the Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians. Here’s nine thoughts on that race as it heads into the homestretch…
Terry Francona makes his return to Fenway Park tonight in a spirit of triumph. The former Red Sox manager, now with the Cleveland Indians, will bring a first-place club to town for a four-game series. The Tribe is 26-19, and a half-game up on Detroit in the American League Central. Today’s MLB coverage will break down how the Indians are doing it, and ask whether Francona’s triumphant return is just a May thing.
The Detroit Tigers are coming off their second American League pennant in the last seven seasons and have officially established themselves as the scourge of the Yankees, knocking the Pinstripes out of the playoffs for the third time since 2006. But there’s one thing Detroit hasn’t done under manager Jim Leyland and that’s win the World Series. Will the 2013 edition of the Tigers take the final step? TheSportsNotebook will evaluate Detroit and will also check in on their Rustbelt rival in Cleveland, where Terry Francona has undertaken the job of rebuilding the Indians.