When the Cleveland Indians dominated the American League Central Division from 1995-2001, winning six titles in seven seasons. They usually won by a pretty good margin:
1995: 30 games
1996: 14.5
1997: 6
1998: 9.5
1999: 21.5
2000: lost by 5 games
2001: won by 6
Even in the Terry Francona era, when the team won by 8 games in 2016, 17 games in 2017, and 13 games in 2018.
So there haven’t been a lot of “pennant races” in the recent past. Perhaps the closest thing fans experienced is the race to get to the wild card game in 2013 when the Tribe overcame a 4-1/2 game deficit on September 1st, going 21-6 in that month and qualifying for the playoffs on the last day of the season.
Well, the Guardians are in a race right now.
They lead the Central Division by a game and a half over Chicago and 3-1/2 over Minnesota today and play the Twins six more times and the White Sox four before the season ends with a nine game homestand vs. Tampa Bay (3) and Kansas City (6).
If you ever longed for “meaningful baseball” as a fan or media person, here you are. It is very likely there will be high stakes each and every time the Guardians take the field for the rest of this season.
And by the way, Minnesota and Chicago also have six games between them remaining including a three-game set to close the year in the Windy City. The Pale Hose seem to have the easiest path, schedule wise, as outside of the games versus the other contenders, the only likely playoff team they will play is San Diego.
Cleveland has the three against Tampa, and both the Twins and Guards have the Angels, who have a bad record, but also have Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
As for Francona’s squad, they have to cobble together 2/5ths of a starting rotation going forward, losing Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac to injuries. When Cleveland comes home on Monday to start a nine game stretch at Progressive Field, they are probably looking at the first two contests where the bullpen will have to play a significant role.
And the back end of that ‘pen has been worked hard recently, and could use a couple of blow out victories.
Emmanuel Clase pitched in three straight games last week, had one day off, and uncharacteristically blew a save at Kansas City. After last night’s save, he’s pitched on six of the last eight days.
James Karinchak has done the same, and he struggled a bit Friday night, giving up his first home run of the season after Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli had the umpire run his fingers through the relievers’ locks.
Francona certainly has his pecking order when his team has the lead, but going forward he will need Enyel De Los Santos, Bryan Shaw, Nick Sandlin, and Sam Hentges to pitch in during close games to keep Clase, Karinchak, and Trevor Stephan fresh.
That’s the downside to the plan, when the Guardians are on a winning streak, the primary trio gets overused, and particularly this season where wins by five runs (just 15) are not plentiful.
And Monday and Tuesday, he will also need the inexperienced Cody Morris, Konnor Pilkington, and Kirk McCarty to step up and give the team quality innings.
It will be a challenge for sure and should be fun for the fans. A real pennant race, with tension filled games, scoreboard watching, etc.
We also ask the front office to do whatever they have to do to get people in the seats. This team deserves that.
In the meantime, have fun!
Cleveland Sports Perspective 