Browns to erect a statue of Jim Brown, irk alumni
February 18, 2016Cavs to acquire Channing Frye; Anderson Varejao headed to Portland
February 18, 2016The Cleveland Indians are a lot more fun when you have middling expectations heading into a season. Unlike the Cleveland Browns who occasionally “win” the draft, or free agency by making splashes, the Indians rarely do. In many ways it’s less fun when the Indians sign expensive deals like Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn, or find a way to acquire Brandon Moss, because that creates expectations. It can create expectations so high that they end up on the cover of Sports Illustrated. It’s just too hard to enjoy a year that’s spent chasing before April is even closed. So maybe the 2016 Cleveland Indians have a chance to be more fun purely by the standard that there aren’t wild expectations of what’s to come.
I know a lot of predictions are coming out right now picking the Indians to win their division and perform pretty well. Even as they pile up a bit here as pitchers and catchers report for duty, it doesn’t feel at all manic or overdone. It’s more of a cautious, computer-generated prediction for a team that had a lot of trouble scoring runs a season ago.
Drama and enjoyment are all in the story arc though. When I went to see San Andreas starring The Rock, I really loved it because I didn’t have any expectations of Oscar-worthy performances. They blew things up and flew helicopters and then blew up more things. The Indians and their “SI jinx” had us thinking that we just might be seeing a best picture candidate, and not like The English Patient. We thought we were getting Braveheart, or maybe even The Return of the King. Instead the season started off like The King’s Speech and finished without a happy ending.
The Indians of 2015 with all their expectations were 7.5 games back before April was over. They got that number down to six with a 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on June 6, but that’s as close as it ever got for the Tribe again the rest of the year. The team was as far back as 18 games at one point in August before finishing the season 13.5 games behind. Normally chasing down 4.5 games during a baseball season is exciting because you have to win a lot to do it. But when it’s a starting point of 58-66 in order to finish the season 81-80 it’s hard to get too excited.
This is all a very long way of saying it sure would be splendid if the Indians didn’t get off to a really slow start. It’s also to say you really can’t ever predict these things, even with what you think is really good instincts. Take Brandon Moss for example. Recently on his podcast with Dan Labbe, Terry Pluto’s talked about what a disaster the move to Cleveland was for Brandon Moss mentally. For whatever reason Moss was psyched out by Progressive Field and didn’t have any confidence hitting at home. He only hit two homers in Cleveland before being traded at the end of July. You can’t project these kinds of human elements, and certainly the Indians never foresaw that when they acquired the supposed veteran slugger. These things work both ways though, as nobody saw Lonnie Chisenhall becoming a legitimate outfielder either.
The Indians will be banking on more things like the latter as they enter 2016 feeling more like a team that stood pat during the off-season as opposed to making massive changes. It isn’t sexy, and won’t lead you to another Sports Illustrated cover, nor does it make you think we’ll be planning a parade. But it does feel familiar. Will the Indians get some development from an unlikely source like Abraham Almonte or Giovanny Urshela? Will the bullpen turn into one of those occasional surprise juggernauts that turns every game into a six- or seven-inning affair before it shuts the door? Will the Indians have multiple candidates for Cy Young competing in their five-man rotation and consistently beating up No. 2 and 3 starters all around the league?
It would be nice if they could get off to a fast start, though. One of my biggest complaints is how little time the Indians have spent in contention. I noted how quickly they were 7.5 games back in 2015, but even going back to their playoff year in 2013, it was pretty brutal. Yes, it was amazingly exciting that the Indians got to the playoffs, but when you think about it, they were 8.5 games back on August 31. They were 6.5 games back on September 11. They won the wild card just one game back after winning their final game 5-1 against the Twins on September 29. Again, you shouldn’t complain about making the playoffs or a “playoff year,” but the team redefined “playoff year” as merely being a really exciting 30-day span.
I’ve given up trying to figure out how the Indians can do better in their off-season. I’m resigned to being a bit more of a fairweather fan for this team over the past decade. And even if I could be talked into thinking that the Indians have a chance to win the World Series this season, I will take a slow approach, which was made easier by the lack of splashy off-season. It’s all a part of the process of writing the story arc of the come-from-behind Tribe rather than the never-lived-up-to-the-hype version we saw a year ago.
17 Comments
Great article.
Like you, I just want to stay in contention. Can’t lose the games by stupid mistakes whether it be errors, or base running blunders. I get the package to listen to games on my phone/streaming video, and it is a lot more fun when we are winning than losing.
Craig didn’t like The King’s Speech ?
Also, I think the real point of the article here is that the Indians have struggled to contend in division. Even when they finished a game out of Deyroit, it was due to their furious finish alongside the Tigers coasting to set up for the playoffs. So, those high expectations always felt empty.
Actual AL Central contention would do wonders for the morale of the fans IMO.
Sunshine, hot dogs and beer in the stadium. Otherwise Tom Hamilton’s voice coming out the app on my phone. Those are my only expectations for the Indians this season.
It seems very Cleveland to worry about the future rather than enjoy the present. Is the issue really a 92 win projection will leave you disheartened with 82 wins, or that you don’t want to be bothered to watch an 82 win baseball team in the first place?
“The Cleveland Indians are a lot more fun when you have middling expectations heading into a season”
I still don’t see why. It seems like we’re just seeking reasons to not be interested in baseball.
This line really sticks out to me “Yes, it was amazingly exciting that the Indians got to the playoffs, but when you think about it, they were 8.5 games back on August 31.”
“Hey guys, yeah, we got into the postseason, like everyone wanted, but let’s focus on that one day that makes the situation look as bad as possible” They were also just 4.5 games out of the WC on that day, and never more than 5.5 out of a postseason spot through the entirety of 2013, they were in contention the whole way. By the same “hey lets just pick a random day” method, was it not exciting when they were in first place on July 1?
Like you said, you’re a fairweather fan, and I can’t tell anyone how to enjoy (or not enjoy) their preferred leisure activities, but it just seems like we’re building excuses to not be interested in baseball more than anything else.
I start every season with the same expectations…
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/20140613/5051769/they-re-shitty-o.gif
Tom Hamilton was always my first indication that winter was over(ish).
“It seems very Cleveland to worry about the future rather than enjoy the present”
For more information on this topic see: Cavaliers, Cleveland 2015/2016.
Just saw video of Rajai Davis taking his first BP swings and maaaaaaaan did they sound like Spring.
I liked it. I was trying to say the Indians started with a speech impediment and didn’t fix it by the end of the movie / season.
They need to play loose and have fun! Lindor / Kip should make sure this happens
It’s not me seeking reasons to not be interested in baseball. I’m legitimately curious why I can’t get more excited about this team over the last ten years. I’ve tried. I fully admit it could be me, but it also might not be just me.
I want to know why the region seems less interested in the Indians / baseball.
It really is strange. They’ve had 3 straight winning seasons.
Maybe I’m not describing it the best way, and while I singled out your specific words, I think they portray the regional attitude pretty well, and I meant the regional interest as well.
What is it about the Indians that they can promote a full season of Lindor, a talented, engaging, exciting athlete, as the face of the franchise and the general fan reaction is to be wary of expectations, while the Browns promote a full season of Josh McCown, a boring retread, at the most important position, and the town trips over themselves to get excited about maybe breaking .500?
I get that people here love football a lot, and baseball not so much. I get that this town is going to be pessimistic. But it seems like people go out of their way to treat the Indians as the red-headed stepchild.
The Browns are a mystery… They could cut everyone on the team and replace them with retired derby jockeys and some folks (*cough* Tigerbrowns) would predict them to go 12-4.
Not my best day for reading comprehension apparently.