Many baseball observers figured going into this season that the AL Central would be a two-team race between the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers. 76 games into play, though, a new contender has emerged: the Cleveland Indians.
Cleveland is on an 11-game winning streak dating back to June 17; it’s worth noting that since that day, no professional Cleveland sports teams have lost a game. Cleveland teams and their players have lost a shirt or two along the way, however. In fact, the last time the Indians lost, the Warriors were leading the NBA Finals. But we’ve already exhausted that point.
Anyway, the Indians have just kept on winning, pushing their streak to 11 games with a 5-3 win over the Braves last night. Granted, they’re the Braves (the second worst team in baseball), but the Indians have still been impressive as they’ve surged to 16 games over .500 and a six-game lead over the defending champion Royals.
But, with all the positivity around the Indians and their winning ways, there still remains this one question: can they keep it up well enough to win the division? And if they can, how far can they go in the playoffs?
For one, the team’s rotation is one of the best and most underrated in baseball. Power pitchers such as Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, and Carlos Carrasco man the front of the rotation while Josh Tomlin has done a solid job at the back end of it. Ironically, Kluber had one of the unluckiest seasons of any starting pitcher in baseball last season. Unbelievably, he’s actually been less fortunate this year; his FIP (fielding-independent pitching) is better in 2016 and his ERA is worse. However, he’s had far more luck with his record; at 7-7, he’s almost reached his win total (9) from last season, one that saw him lose 16 games.
The rotation has combined for 43 quality starts (6 innings, 3 runs or less allowed), good for 4th in all of baseball. That being said, the bullpen has done its fair share of work, as well. Cody Allen has been solid, albeit somewhat inconsistent, in the closer role, converting 14 of his 16 save opportunities so far this season. While Bryan Shaw has struggled in the eighth inning, Dan Otero and his sub-one ERA have locked down the seventh. The front office should look to bolster the bullpen at the trade deadline, but for now, it will have to do. Obviously, it’s done well enough over the past two weeks.
Another thing the Indians have going for them is their middle infield. Short of the Houston Astros’ combination of Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve, I can’t think of a better 2B-SS pairing in the game today than second baseman Jason Kipnis and shortstop Francisco Lindor. Kipnis has been one of the most consistent second basemen in the game over the past couple of seasons, and even though he’s having a bit of a down year, he can always turn things around in the second half. It’s Lindor, though, who has carried the offense through the first half of the season.
Lindor was called up on June 14th last season to shore up an offense that was near the bottom of the American League in runs scored. At that point in the season, the Indians were 29-33 and 4th in the AL Central. After his call-up, Cleveland went 52-47 to close out the season; more importantly, Lindor ingratiated himself as the team’s starting shortstop and finished second to Correa in Rookie of the Year voting. However, having hit .313 a season ago, many wondered if he could replicate his 2015 performance this season.
And that he has, and then some. He’s basically matched last year’s batting average (.314 this season) and is even walking more to help his own cause. In 25 fewer games and 115 fewer plate appearances, Lindor has already scored more runs than he did last year and matched his steals total from a season ago.
And, for these reasons and others, he has established himself as a bona fide MVP candidate. Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer explains:
This makes him a rare breed: a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop who is also an advanced hitter. There may be shortstops with individual skills—Bogaerts’ bat, Correa’s power, Andrelton Simmons’ glove, etc.—better than his, but no other shortstop in baseball today is the total package like Lindor.
For the Indians, this means they have a legit AL MVP candidate on their hands. If Lindor doesn’t get the kind of attention he deserves before then, that would probably do the trick.
Lindor really could be considered an MVP candidate; according to FanGraphs, Lindor ranks eighth in baseball in WAR (wins above replacement player). If that doesn’t give him consideration for MVP, I don’t know what will.
There have been other solid acquisitions, though. Juan Uribe has come on strong of late, having hit five home runs in his last 10 games. Rookie Tyler Naquin is hitting over .300 in fill-in duty for injured star outfielder Michael Brantley; it will be interesting to see how much playing time Naquin gets when Brantley returns from a shoulder injury that has kept him out of action since May 9.
Mike Napoli and Carlos Santana have also hit 16 home runs apiece for a team that ranks in the middle of the pack in that category. Finally, Rajai Davis has accumulated 21 steals this season and been one of the better leadoff hitters in the game. Yes, the Indians’ rotation has been one of the best in the league, but its lineup is also one of the game’s deepest.
But here’s the thing: the Cleveland Indians could get even better. Consider this: even at 46-30, the team is just 12-11 in one run games. By contrast, the best team in the American League, the Texas Rangers, are 17-5 in one-run games this season. Part of this failure in close games is due to mishaps in the bullpen, but if Cleveland can make a deadline deal to shore up the back end of it, we could seriously be looking at them as the team to beat in the American League. And I mean every word of what I just wrote.
The Indians have been magnificent over the course of the last two weeks. They’ve captivated us with their pitching and hitting and shown the world that they are capable of doing big things for the rest of this season and beyond.
The sick part is, though, that they may even improve from where they are right now.