Month: November 2016

There is no shame in losing what might be remembered as the greatest baseball game of all time. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time since 1908 because they were deeper in their starting rotation and had better hitters in their lineup. They are worthy champions, and they had millions and millions of people rooting for them all across America.

But like other fans of the Cleveland Indians, I am crestfallen now. My team held a 3-1 lead in games and needed just one more victory for its first World Series title since 1948. Cleveland had two opportunities to celebrate a World Series crown on its home field for the first time since 1920. In those two games, the Indians never even held a lead; in fact, for most of the 19 innings played in Games 6 and 7, the home team trailed by multiple runs.

Yet in the bottom of the ninth inning, in one of those rare sporting events that transcend sports, all the Indians needed was one lousy run and they would have been champions.

If only.

Cubs 8, Indians 7. Just pressing the buttons to write those numbers hurts.

The Curse of the Billy Goat is over. The Curse of Rocky Colavito – or is it the Curse of Chief Wahoo? – lives on.

The last two times the Indians have played in a World Series, they lost Game 7 in extra innings. All other Major League Baseball franchises combined have seen their championship hopes die that particular way only twice. The Atlanta Braves lost 1-0 to the Minnesota Twins in the 10^th inning of Game 7 in 1991, and the New York Giants lost 4-3 to the Washington Senators in the 12^th inning of Game 7 in 1924. That’s it.

A handful of other ballclubs, most notably the 1986 Boston Red Sox and 2011 Texas Rangers, blew chances to win a World Series in extra innings in a Game 6. Cleveland, however, is plotting new courses on the choppy waters of postseason heartbreak. The Indians have played four games, one in 1997 and three in this Series, that would have clinched a world championship – and they lost all four. They have become baseball’s answer to the 1990s Buffalo Bills.

Even grown men struggle to cope with such a cruel fate. As Mike Hargrove, manager of the Indians team that lost to the Marlins in 11 after blowing a 2-1 lead in the ninth, told mlb.com columnist Tracy Ringolsby in the lead-up to this Series: “I had a guy ask me two months ago how long it took me to get over Game 7 and the way we lost it and I told him, ‘Well, just as soon as it happens, I’ll let you know.”

Mind you, the game to which Hargrove referred took place 19 years ago.

That’s what made this World Series so special. Both franchises were trying to exorcize the demons of their past. Both fan bases (including me) were haunted by memories of previous disappointments. Never before had a major sports championship been determined by two franchises that had gone a combined 176 years without one.

The end result was the most-watched baseball telecast of the Internet Age, a ballgame seen by multitudes who normally don’t pay much attention to America’s Pastime. An estimated television audience of 40.05 million tuned in, the most for baseball since 50.34 million viewers saw the Braves-Twins Game 7 of 1991. Wednesday’s overnight Nielsen rating was a whopping 25.2. Even the NBA Finals Game 7 this June drew just an 18.9.

And what a show those people saw. Books will be written about this game. Documentaries will be made about it. It had daring base-running, unexpected twists and turns, and the highest level of drama the game can offer. It was neither perfectly played – four errors, three by Chicago – nor perfectly managed – what was Joe Maddon thinking? Each team finished with more than 10 hits, and runs were scored in every inning but the second, seventh and ninth. This was one of those epic sporting events that will never be forgotten, and I feel honored to know that my team was a part of it.

The Indians brought further honor upon themselves by the way they persevered, in both this game and the postseason as a whole. They had the lowest payroll of the 10 teams in the playoff field, and their highest-paid player, star outfielder and former MVP candidate Michael Brantley, missed all but two weeks of the season. Injuries also shelved second and third starters Carlos Carrasco (for the entire postseason) and Danny Salazar (who could make only two cameo appearances in the Series). Yet the pitching staff somehow managed to dominate the Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays in the American League playoffs, then the Cubs for three victories, in an unlikely run to the brink of a championship. Before the World Series started, Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo announced on MLB Network that oddsmakers in Las Vegas had installed Cleveland as a 2-to-1 underdog. The Indians were short-handed, but they nearly pulled off what would have been a colossal upset.

As throngs of Clevelanders assembled on the plaza outside the ballpark, hoping for a celebration, the expectation was that for the Indians to win, pitching had to rule the day. Instead, the Chicago hitters did. Ace Corey Kluber and reliever Andrew Miller – whose postseason numbers prior to Wednesday ranked among the best ever – combined to give up six runs and 10 hits, three of them homers, over 6 1/3 innings. Even some of the outs they got were hit hard. After striking out eight batters in the first three innings of Game 1, Kluber, for the first time in his career, had an outing with no strikeouts at all. Against Kluber, Dexter Fowler became the first player to lead off Game 7 of a World Series with a home run. Against Miller, David Ross, at 39, became the oldest player ever to homer in a World Series Game 7.

But on a night when history was made several times over, Cleveland’s comeback was historic, too. With two Indians in scoring position in the fifth, Jason Kipnis hustled around the bases to score from second on a wild pitch, cutting the deficit to 5-3. It was just the third two-run wild pitch in postseason history – and the first since 1911.

Then there was Rajai Davis. Just as Carlton Fisk’s home run, in a losing cause in 1975, gave that great World Series its most enduring image, Davis’ two-run shot with two out in the eighth inning will be the most enduring image of this one. The speedy outfielder, who hadn’t gone deep in two months, jolted Cleveland into a sudden joyful frenzy by hitting the first tying home run in the eighth inning or later of a World Series Game 7.

If I ever get a chance to meet Rajai Davis, I want to thank him for giving me a thrill unlike any other I have experienced in more than 40 years as a sports fan. Cubs 6, Indians 6. Wow!

Now I was a true believer again, and much of the nation surely joined me in thinking that Cleveland was really going to win it all. Then, with a runner on third and two out in the top of the ninth, Fowler hit a grounder up the middle that looked eerily similar to Edgar Renteria’s single to center that decided Game 7 of the ’97 Series. Oh no, not again! Not this time. Shortstop Francisco Lindor made a dive, smothered the ball, and threw to first just in time to get Fowler.

The Indians had their best chance in the bottom of the ninth, when the top of the order came to bat against Aroldis Chapman. The fireballer from Cuba had just given up a home run for the first time since joining the Cubs in a trade in July, and he was worn out from being overused by Maddon over a three-game, four-day span. The second batter he would face, Kipnis, grew up a Cubs fan in the same suburban Chicago neighborhood as the infamous Steve Bartman. I thought about how jinxed the Cubs must be if the Indians’ second baseman were to win the Series with a walk-off shot for the ages. Davis’ tying blow and Lindor’s inning-ending play had me filled with hope, so much so that I wanted to believe I could make Kipnis hit a home run by the sheer force of my will. On the third pitch, when Kipnis made solid contact and pulled the ball, I exclaimed, “YES!” – only to see that the ball was a foul into the stands down the right-field line. Four pitches later, Kipnis struck out.

That’s as close as I’ve ever come to celebrating the Indians’ winning the World Series.

A sporting event of this magnitude can inspire people to seek divine intervention to influence the outcome. I must admit that prior to Game 7, I myself said a prayer for the Indians to win. However, I’m pretty sure that more people around the world were praying for the Cubs than for the Indians. I also remembered that years ago, a highlight show featuring the Cubs on a hot streak included a call by the legendary Harry Caray during which he announced on the air, “The Good Lord wants the Cubs to win.”

The way the game ended, it sure seemed that way.

In the eighth, Cleveland had strung together an infield single by Jose Ramirez, an RBI double by Brandon Guyer, and Davis’ heroic drive inside the left-field foul pole – all with two out. It appeared unlikely that the Cubs could recover from such a devastating collapse. Then, just as the Indians were seizing the momentum and electrifying their ballpark with positive energy, the rains came. After the final out in the bottom of the ninth, the suspense was suspended for 17 minutes, enough time for the Cubs to regain control of their emotions.

“I really feel like in some ways that rain delay was kind of divine intervention,” Chicago general manager Jed Hoyer said afterward. “The game was going really fast for us at that point. Dexter had just missed winning the game for us (in the ninth) – Lindor made a heck of a play. And to get that little break right there, it helped us a lot.”

Chapman, for one, was in tears, but the Chicago players, led by outfielder Jason Heyward, encouraged and supported one another during a brief clubhouse meeting. When play resumed, five of the first six batters reached base. The Cubs scored two runs in the 10^th inning; the Indians, just one. Two days later, Chicago celebrated with a parade that had been nearly 11 decades in the making.

Ever since June, when the Cavaliers won the NBA crown to end the city’s 52-year sports-championship drought, my wife had been encouraging me by saying, “This is the year of Cleveland.” She turned out to be half-right. This was the year for Cleveland to be part of two unforgettable, historic championship series in which the winner came back from a 3-games-to-1 deficit to achieve something that hadn’t been done in a long, long time.

For the city in northeast Ohio that was once an industrial juggernaut, the wait for a World Series championship is now at 68 years and counting. That’s as long as the New York Rangers’ 1940-1994 Stanley Cup drought, with the entire lifespan of an adolescent added on. Perhaps if the Indians replace their Chief Wahoo logo, which some find offensive, they will replace the Cubs as the most popular sentimental favorite in all of sports.

I still have faith that the “Believeland Windians” will someday win the World Series. But as Cubs fans could tell me, there’s no guarantee I’ll live long enough to witness it.

Sources: deadline.com, FOX Sports, mlb.com.

Filed November 4, 2016

Following are my thoughts as I watched the Indians fail to seal their first World Series championship since 1948:

Pregame – In order to appreciate where the Indians are, let’s look back at how far they have come. In the 68 seasons they have played since their previous title (this year being the 68th), the Indians finished first nine times and finished last seven times; they endured 36 losing seasons compared to just 30 winning ones; they wound up with a .500 record twice, but lost 100 games in a season four times. Cleveland was spared from a fifth such dubious distinction in 1969, when a postponed game was never made up; the Indians placed dead last in their division that year with 99 defeats.

And how could I forget 1987? Coming off a winning record in ’86, Cleveland hoodwinked some people into thinking it was actually a contending team. Sports Illustrated, whose staff at the time featured the distinguished baseball writer Peter Gammons, put the smiling faces of star sluggers Joe Carter and Cory Snyder on the cover of its season preview issue. “Believe it! Cleveland is the best team in the American League,” the magazine’s cover proclaimed. The Indians lost 101 games that year – ample evidence that the SI cover jinx really does exist.

The Indians went four full decades (1955 to 1994) without making the playoffs. Cleveland likely would have been a division winner or wild-card team in ’94, but – just the Indians’ luck – that was the year the entire postseason was wiped out so that the millionaire owners and millionaire players could waste everyone’s time by arguing over money.

* * *

The late 1990s and early 2000s could have been the golden era of Cleveland Indians baseball, except for two small problems. One, Cleveland never won a World Series despite six division crowns and two American League pennants in a seven-year span. Two, those Indians had too many prickly personalities. There was Albert Belle, with his violent temper and corked bat. There was Eddie Murray, who refused to talk to reporters … just because. There was Manny Ramirez, a great hitter whose entire career is considered clouded by his positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs. The Cleveland teams of that era even had John Rocker for a while. How could I root for John Rocker?

This season, there doesn’t seem to be a bad apple in the bunch. From manager Terry Francona on down, this is an easy group of guys to root for. Unlike baseball champions of the 1970s, when the Oakland A’s and “Bronx Zoo” Yankees proved that teammates who don’t get along can still win, the 2016 Indians show a genuine respect for one another.

* * *

On July 7, 2008, less than a year after losing Game 7 of the AL Championship Series, the Indians traded 2007 Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia for four prospects. On July 29, 2009, the Indians traded 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee for four more prospects. Of the eight players Cleveland acquired in those trades, the only two who panned out were outfielder Michael Brantley and starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco, neither of whom has played this postseason because of injuries. Brantley hardly played at all this year, and the absence of Carrasco and Danny Salazar – its Nos. 2 and 3 starters – makes Cleveland’s pitching dominance in these playoffs all the more remarkable. Trevor Bauer, the losing pitcher in two of his team’s World Series defeats, was the Indians’ fifth starter when all five were available.

Working at a newspaper in the New York area, I edited stories about the 2009 World Series in which Sabathia’s Yankees defeated Lee’s Philadelphia Phillies. This year, Cleveland won the American League pennant for the sixth time in the franchise’s 115-year history – or just once more than the Yankees did in the six-year span from 1996 to 2001.

First inning – What a terrible start! I felt good to see Game 2 hitting hero Kyle Schwarber swing at the first pitch and ground out to the right side for the second out. But then Kris Bryant belted a no-doubt shot to left – his second homer in as many games – and Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist followed with well-struck singles to put runners at the corners. A fly ball to right-center could have ended the inning, but rookie Tyler Naquin and right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall miscommunicated, allowing the ball to drop for a disastrous two-run double. In the Indians’ first 13 postseason games combined, they allowed three first-inning runs. They matched that crooked number tonight. The home fans suddenly have glum looks on their faces, and I have a sick feeling in my gut. Cubs 3, Indians 0.

Second inning – Josh Tomlin retires Chicago in order. In the bottom half, Fox Sports shows 95-year-old Eddie Robinson, who is in attendance. Robinson is the last surviving member of the Indians’ 1948 championship team, and the 11th-oldest former major-leaguer overall. Jake Arrieta is pitching so well for the Cubs, I’m already thinking Cleveland will need a late-inning rally against Chicago’s bullpen to avoid a Game 7.

Third inning – Chisenhall and Naquin again fail to work together on a fly ball, but this time Chisenhall makes the catch. Otherwise, this inning is a replay of the first – only worse. Following a walk to Schwarber, Rizzo and Zobrist again smack singles, which give Chicago bases loaded with one out. That is enough for Tomlin, who is replaced by Dan Otero. Otero’s first batter – kid star shortstop Addison Russell – crushes a grand slam to center, and it is time to start planning for a Game 7 tomorrow night. Cubs 7, Indians 0.

Fourth inning – Just like when Arrieta pitched in Game 2, Kipnis doubles for Cleveland’s first hit and comes around to score the Tribe’s first run. Mike Napoli’s RBI single is followed by a hit batter and a walk, and with the bases loaded and two out, I’m dreaming big about how great it would be to come back from a seven-run deficit to clinch a championship. But Naquin, who is having a miserable night, looks overmatched as he strikes out to end the inning. Cubs 7, Indians 1.

Fifth inning – Salazar pitches his second straight scoreless inning. In the home half, Kipnis continues to swing a hot bat. He homers to left, an opposite-field shot. Cubs 7, Indians 2.

Sixth inning – Arrieta is removed after 5 2/3, as Chicago manager Joe Maddon replaces him with Mike Montgomery. But who else does Maddon trust out of the bullpen?

Seventh inning – Zach McAllister gives up two singles to start the frame but gets two fly balls and a grounder to wriggle out of the jam. In the bottom half, Maddon gives the ball to closer Aroldis Chapman with two on and two out. It is a surprise, given that Chapman just went 2 2/3 innings in Game 5. Here, the first batter he faces, Francisco Lindor, hits a grounder to first base and nearly beats Chapman to the bag. On replay, Lindor is called out to end the threat, but Chapman is slightly hobbled after his foot lands awkwardly on the base.

Eighth inning – Russell has six RBI, as he was the statistical beneficiary of the game-turning misplayed fly in the first that was scored a two-run double. He made the last out in the seventh, on a hard-hit grounder to third. One thing that worries me is that the Cubs’ young hitters – Russell, Bryant (4 for 5) and Rizzo – along with the veteran Zobrist, are all swinging the bat well and making good contact.

Ninth inning – Rizzo belts a two-run homer to cap a huge night for the heart of the Cubs’ order. With the seven-run difference restored, Maddon removes Chapman after his 62nd pitch over a two-game span. An RBI hit by Roberto Perez brings home the final run. Cubs 9, Indians 3.

Posted November 1, 2016

Sources: baseball-reference.com, Cleveland Indians Media Guide (2002), Fox Sports, mlb.com.

The fans in the outdoor Midwestern baseball stadium could barely believe their eyes as they watched the games unfold. Their favorite team had not won the World Series since long before they were born, but now it was playing like a champion on the sport’s biggest stage. The faithful, too excited to remain seated, shouted and leaped and hugged each other with glee, as the ballplayers they identified as their own hit superbly in the clutch while frustrating the opposing batters with one masterful pitching performance after another.

This doesn’t describe the crowds who paid thousands of dollars to watch the Cubs’ three World Series games at Wrigley Field over the weekend. No, these were the crowds who paid a whole lot less than that to attend viewing parties at Progressive Field in Cleveland, where they looked up at the giant video screen atop the left-field stands and saw the Tribe take two of the three games in Chicago. It is now possible – even probable – for the Indians to win the World Series at home for the first time since 1920, when their opponent was called the Brooklyn Robins. It would be only the third championship for a franchise whose history dates all the way back to 1901. That’s two years before the first World Series was even played.

A total of 67,218 attended the watch parties at the Indians’ home park for Games 3, 4 and 5, the team said. Some paid as little as $5 for the privilege, and the proceeds will go to various charities.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, throngs were following the action not only inside the Friendly Confines but outside it. Streets in the Wrigleyville neighborhood were closed to vehicular traffic, and with extra commuter trains put into service on the CTA Red Line, city officials were urging fans to take mass transit. Those who didn’t must have walked a long way to get back to their cars, considering that Wrigley – built in 1914 – doesn’t have its own parking lot. With the Cubs in their first Series since the year World War II ended, the Windy City has gone a little bonkers. If Cleveland had swept all three games at Wrigley, even I, an Indians fan, would have felt sorry for the thousands upon thousands who crammed into and around the ancient ballpark with the ivy-covered outfield walls.

The Series is drawing huge television audiences, too: 18.5 million viewers on average through the first five games, according to Variety. The preliminary Nielsen numbers for Game 5 were 25 percent better than in 2015, despite the fact that last year’s Game 5 was an elimination game for the New York Mets. Sunday night’s game also drew a whole lot more (21.54 million versus 17.21 million) than the simultaneous Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles matchup – even though the football game was a battle for first place that went to overtime.

Here’s a recap of what all those baseball watchers saw:

Game 3 – Indians 1, Cubs 0: As if winning a championship weren’t enough to earn a place in my sports fan’s heart forever, these Indians are just plain easy to like. Take, for example, Josh Tomlin, who was moved up to No. 2 in the rotation only because of injuries to two other starters.

Of all the players on the team, Tomlin might have drawn the toughest assignment, facing major-league earned-run average leader Kyle Hendricks with the series tied 1-1. But the Indians’ right-hander outpitched his more accomplished opponent, throwing 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball to help Cleveland retake the series lead. And from his wheelchair, in the “Not-So-Friendly” Confines, surrounded by mobs of Cubs crazies eager to see his son lose, Jerry Tomlin saw Josh pitch in person for the first time since being paralyzed from the chest down in August because of a rare blood-vessel issue near his spinal cord. “It was probably one of the more emotional starts I’ve ever had in my entire life,” said Tomlin, who turned 32 on October 19. “ … I did the best I could for him.”

Tomlin gave up 36 home runs this season, but only one since September 1, a span of eight starts. Teams scoring first have won 14 straight games in these playoffs, and Cleveland set a record by pitching its fifth shutout of this postseason. The Indians also became the first club to post two shutouts in a World Series since the 1966 Baltimore Orioles.

Game 3 marked the first time in World Series history that two starting pitchers went less than five innings even though neither had given up a run. And through three games, the Cubs are hitting just .154 with runners on base.

Game 4 – Indians 7, Cubs 2: Before Carlos Santana went deep, the last player to hit a World Series home run at Wrigley Field was Hank Greenberg in 1945 – and the last first baseman to hit one was Lou Gehrig in 1932. More important than its historical value, however, was its timing: Santana’s leadoff shot hushed the crowd, moments after the Cubs had taken the lead for only the second time in the series. John Lackey, despite all his experience under postseason pressure, could not get past one batter without relinquishing the advantage.

Amazing. As soon as the riled-up Wrigley faithful have something to boost their hopes – a first-inning lead, and some hits against 2014 Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber – the Indians jump ahead in their very next at-bat. Kluber, pulling one foul by a few feet with two out and two on, almost got a hit down the third-base line. The Cubs might have preferred that to what did happen. On a 3-2 pitch, he barely got his bat on the ball and pushed a bouncer toward third. Kris Bryant charged in and threw on the run. Not only did Kluber beat the throw, but it was too wide for first baseman Anthony Rizzo to hold it. With runners going on the pitch, Lonnie Chisenhall was able to score the go-ahead run from second easily. The throwing error was the second of the inning for Bryant, the young star expected to win the National League MVP award.

All the breaks seem to be going the Indians’ way now. After the umpire’s call on a close 2-2 pitch goes against Lackey, Francisco Lindor lashes a single to center to drive home Jason Kipnis, making the score 3-1. This was after Kipnis’ double to open the third, the second straight inning the Indians led off with an extra-base hit to right field.

In the sixth, the Indians scored another tack-on run off reliever Mike Montgomery, even though they didn’t look smooth doing it. Lindor walked on a 3-2 pitch. Santana hit a comebacker that took the glove off the pitcher’s hand. Montgomery retrieved it but, off balance, threw wildly to first. Santana foolishly made a turn, and both he and first baseman Rizzo ended up flopping around in the dirt as Santana nearly got caught off the bag. Rather than sacrifice, Jose Ramirez hit what could have been a double-play ball; Ramirez beat the relay, so it wound up being a productive out. With runners on the corners, Chisenhall also failed to put a bunt down, and Lindor was nearly caught off the bag at third when the safety squeeze was not executed. Then Chisenhall hit a sacrifice fly to center and the run wound up scoring anyway.

Now Cleveland was ahead 4-1, and three runs seemed like an impossible mountain to climb against Kluber. In a span covering the fifth and sixth innings, the overanxious Cubs swung at 11 of 12 pitches. That exercise in futility helped Kluber become the first pitcher to start and win Games 1 and 4 of a World Series since Jose Rijo of the Cincinnati Reds in 1990. The Indians’ ace went six innings, striking out six and walking one to continue what has been a dominant October. Kluber’s 0.89 ERA is the second-best playoff mark in baseball history among pitchers with at least 30 innings in one postseason.

Kipnis made the night seem too good to be true from a Cleveland standpoint when he drilled a three-run shot in the seventh. The last player to hit a three-run homer in a Series game at Wrigley had been Babe Ruth – his famous “called shot,” in 1932. As a kid, Kipnis had been a Cubs fan; he is from the suburb of Northbrook, Ill., where one of his neighbors was another Cubs fan who made the home fans unhappy during a postseason game at Wrigley Field: Steve Bartman.

Though Cleveland’s 7-1 lead made his presence seem hardly necessary, Andrew Miller did enter the game. He set a record for most strikeouts by a relief pitcher in a single postseason, but also gave up Dexter Fowler’s solo shot in the eighth. That whimper of protest – the Cubs’ first home run of the series – ensured that Miller’s ERA for these playoffs will not be 0.00.

Game 5 – Cubs 3, Indians 2: When Ramirez opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning, I remarked that these games in Chicago were beyond my wildest dreams. The Cubs rebounded soon thereafter, however, and just like Cleveland in the 1995 World Series against Atlanta, they won Game 5 to avoid the ignominy of having their opponent clinch the championship as their disappointed home fans watched in horror.

The Indians made Chicago sweat, though. The Cubs scored all three of their runs in the third inning, posting another succession of zeroes the rest of the way. In what some observers perceived as a panic move, Chicago manager Joe Maddon inserted closer Aroldis Chapman with one out in the seventh inning. The left-hander from Cuba whose fastball consistently exceeds 100 mph did the job, but the Indians will have two more chances to clinch the series – in Cleveland.

Posted October 31, 2016

Sources: The Associated Press, Cleveland Indians Media Guide (2002), Cleveland.com (Plain Dealer website), espn.com, Fox Sports, mlb.com, Chicago Tribune.