It is funny to us that we hear many people, both fans and media, talk about whether or not the management of the Cleveland Indians wants to chase a playoff spot if it happens to be a wild card.
Why try to make moves to get you in a one game playoff? Well, if you win that game you advance to the Division Series, which is a best of five series.
Secondly, if you make the wild card game, you have a chance to win the World Series. Heck, in 2014, the Royals beat the A’s in the one game winner take all event, and actually were trailing late in that game, and they went to the seventh game of the World Series before losing to the San Francisco Giants.
If you don’t make the playoffs, even a wild card game berth, you have no chance to win.
To a sporting person, it is crazy not to take a shot at getting in, even if it is for just one game.
This isn’t the NBA, were probably at most five of the 16 teams to make the playoffs have a legitimate chance to win the title, so if you finish 6th or 7th in the conference standings say, three years in a row, you would likely be better off to miss the post-season festivities.
But the nature of baseball is if you can play in October, you have a chance to win.
Did anyone really think the Indians would beat the Red Sox in the 2016 Division Series once Carlos Carrasco went down? Remember, the Tribe started Josh Tomlin in Game 3 at Fenway Park.
Then, they beat Toronto in five games using Ryan Merritt to start one game, Tomlin started another, and a third game was a essentially a bullpen game because of Trevor Bauer’s bloody finger.
If you get into a series, anything can happen.
We understand the Indians lost to New York in ’17 after being up two games to none, but folks forget the third game was a 1-0 loss. That’s how close the Tribe came to a sweep.
As for last year’s sweep at the hands of the Astros, here were the scores of the games going into the 7th inning–
Game 1: Houston 4, Cleveland 2
Game 2: Houston 2, Cleveland 1
Game 3: Cleveland 2, Houston 1
Not playing coulda, shoulda, woulda, but it wasn’t like the Astros dominated right from the word go.
The point is the Indians had a chance to win each game late. They didn’t, but with a better bullpen and a tad more hitting, people might have a different viewpoint.
Besides, we have a hard time giving up on a season, particularly when you are 11 games over .500, which the Indians are right now.
We lived through the drought from 1959-1994, when hitting the .500 mark was considered a good season. When you have a good team, and you have a chance to make the post-season, you have to take a shot.
Now, we wouldn’t mortgage the future for a one game playoff, but the Indians do have some depth in the farm system and we wouldn’t be opposed to moving a middle of the road prospect for someone who can improve the roster now.
Baseball is a different sport. Using the same strategy and thought process used in football and basketball is ridiculous.
Getting to the post-season gives you a reasonable chance to win. The Indians should take advantage of that chance in 2019.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 