The Cleveland Indians have given up the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees after two victories at the start and are now empty-handed after a historic season.SPOX goes to root cause research and finds a few approaches.
After perhaps the best team in the American League had taken the lead this season with a 2-0 lead in the ALDS against the New York Yankees, the others cheered again in the end.The Indians’ feeling for the Indians is not new, however, as they lost the World Series only last fall after two games.The bankruptcy against the Cubs was undoubtedly more painful, but to skip the sails now – even after this record-breaking season?Bitter!
102 games Cleveland had won 102 games, including 22 in series and around this winning streak 27 out of 28.The Indians seemed to be unstoppable, especially as the record series of the American League went into September.So there was not much time left for the boys of manager Terry Francona to cool down.
The bottom line, however, is that there are now six bankruptcies in so-called clinching games – games in which a team can successfully complete a playoff series – in series on the paper.All in all, the Indians have been 4-17 in such games since the 1997 World Series – and they lost eight of them in a row at home!Even though there is no one left over from the World Series bankruptcy against the Marlins at that time, the spirit of failure seems to survive.
What were the reasons for the end of this season?The first question that needs to be asked is the rotation that Francona sent into the race.Not a few were surprised by the decision to use Pitching Ace and Cy-Young favourite Corey Kluber in the second game.Of course, Trevor Bauer dominated in game 1, but in game 4 – after a short pause – the drone enthusiast failed and made sure that eight pitcher for eight innings had to be used for the bankruptcy in New York.
Under normal circumstances, the series would have been over after just four games, as Kluber, who had a five-day break instead of his usual four days at the start of the second leg, literally broke up and was fortunate enough to see his offense – with the help of Yankee manager Joe Girardi and his non-Challenge in front of Francisco Lindor’s Grand Slam – turning the match around.
The consideration was that Kluber could have pitched game 1 of the ALCS in this way if it hadn’t come to the fifth game.But Francona injured the most important rule in the postseason:”The most important day is always today – or something like that.Want to say: Until you win today, you don’t have to think about tomorrow.Especially in the League Division Series, where there are only five games maximum, there is not much room for mistakes and this rotation was predestined for mistakes.
Ideally, none of them should have started between Game 1 and 4 after a short break of only three days, because neither of them ever did so in the MLB.So nobody knew how the respective starter would react to this new situation.However, it is usually not worthwhile to let starters start after a short break.And in this case, too.
It’s as if Francona didn’t have any other options, which is surprising, because Danny Salazar, who was only allowed to play briefly in Match 4, as well as Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger were three experienced starters in the squad.None of them would have done worse than Bauer in Game 4!
In game 5 there was still Kluber on the Mound, but as it turned out once again, this doesn’t have to mean much in a do-or-die game.On the contrary: In baseball, anything can happen in a game, no matter who is on the court.The real problem is that the Indians actually wanted to go for it.
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The real strength of the Bullpen team was surprisingly rarely used at all.Most of the time he pitched with a backlog, but didn’t make things worse.Reason for this: All in all, the offensive didn’t get much on the chain!
The top people of this team like Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor or Carlos Santana were mostly deregistered.The only exception is Jay Bruce.He turned out to be a Yankee killer and performed well in almost every game.But he was alone with it.Aggravatingly, Edwin Encarnacion was the best power hitter for a long time – it was a miracle that he came back for Game 5 after he was badly bent in Game 2.
So what remains of this season?First and foremost, the Indians realize that they are capable of more than 100 victories and are more than prepared for a long season.Nearly all the top people were on board when the playoffs started, but hardly any of the top performers managed to preserve their top form from the winning streak.And the fact that form beats class, especially in baseball, can be seen as a principle.
The Indians will attack again next year and will be able to reach the playoffs once again in view of the competition in their own division.And then they will hope once again that the form will fit to the class and their own demons will be defeated.
This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.