The NL race is set. The teams that
will make the playoffs are Atlanta, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and the
LA Dodgers. The NL Central is the toughest, and it looks like the Pirates will
take the division, with the Cardinals and Reds taking the two wild card spots.
But how about the AL? There are teams that are guaranteed a spot in the
playoffs (unless they screw up in September), but there are bubble teams that
make the AL race fun to watch. So far some bubble teams are the BaltimoreOrioles, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and Kansas City Royals. The Rays
and the A’s have the wild card spots, ahead of the Orioles by 2.5 games.
I want to talk about the Cleveland
Indians today, because I think they and the Royals have the best chance of
trying to get back in this (and I can talk about the Royal next week).
Before they were the Indians, they
had one of the one of the best second basemen in history, Nap Lajoie. Lajoie
was one of the greatest hitters of all time, having a career .338/.380/.466,
and won the Triple Crown in 1901 at age 26. He hit 14 homers with 125 RBI’s,
batted .426/.463/.643 with an 8.4 WAR.
The Indians would win their first
title in 1920, but besides that, the next twenty, twenty five years were filled
with no pennants. It was only until 1948, after Bob Feller played for the
Indians, where Bill Veeck played and won their second title. After that, they
have yet to win another World Series. They went to the World Series in 1997,
and were two outs away from winning it all, but Jose Mesa blew the save, and
they would eventually lose to the Marlins in 11 innings.
They have seven Central Division
titles, the most in the division. Their latest title was in 2007, when they had
C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee as the best duo in the MLB. They also had guys like
Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta, Trot Nixon, Travis Hafner, and Grady Sizemore
(jeez, remember Grady Sizemore?).
Things have changed since 2007. No
more CC, no more Cliff, and the only batter they still have from that team is
Asdrubal Cabrera. But they have played their best ball since 2007. Jason
Kipnis, Michael Bourn, and Carlos Santana are the future hitters of this team,
and Justin Masterson is the ace for their rotation.
Overall their stats are pretty
decent. They have a .324 team OBP (9th in MLB), and a .407 SLG (10th
in MLB). They have a mediocre 4.09 team
ERA (21st in MLB), but do hold batters to a .246 batting average (9th
in MLB).
So here’s the question: Are they in
or are they out?
They’re out.
The Indians had been on and off in
the division with the Detroit Tigers, before the Tigers went hot and swept
Cleveland in a four game series. That series made me realize that they can’t
compete with Miggy and the Tigers. They’re now six games out of the division
and three games out of the wild card.
Their schedule in August doesn’t
get much better. They just took a great series from the Twins on the road,
coming back to win 9-8 in 12 innings last night. They continue on the road
against the A’s and Angels, then come home to play the Twins. Luckily, the A’s
and Angels have not played their best ball lately. After all of this though,
they finish the month on the road against Atlanta and Detroit. That’s going to
kill their chances of the playoffs if they lose.
I can see them making a late surge
at the end of the year, as they have series against the Astros, White Sox, and
Twins. Will it be enough? I don’t think so. I think they can get close to
winning, but the way the Tigers are playing, it will be tough.
Who do you think will take the AL
Wild Card spots? Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com
for your answer, or for any questions/comments/concerns.
Let’s see if Bryce Harper can start
my Beat the Streak after Paul Goldschmidt failed to get a hit.
-Evan Boyd
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