TRIBE CALLED BEST
Indians hoping success of 21-game win streak translates into shot at ring
CLEVELAND — How do you celebrate history when it’s remarkable, but doesn’t constitute the ultimate goal?
How do you tribute a feat that a Major League Baseball team has pulled off just twice in 117 years when you strive most to do something a team accomplishes every year?
The Indians welcomed that challenge Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field, in front of a boisterous matinee crowd. They threaded the needle: No dog pile on the field. No champagne in the clubhouse. Yet no diminishing, either, what they had just done.
The Indians’ 5-3 victory over the Tigers marked their 21st straight win, an American League record, topping the 20-game winning streak posted by the “Moneyball” 2002 Athletics. They tied the 1935 Cubs for what we’ll call the common-sense all-time record of 21 wins in a row — though the Elias Sports Bureau credits the 1916 Giants with a 26-game winning streak, that club won 14 straight games, then played a tie (ended by rain), then won another 12.
“They should enjoy what they’re doing,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “It’s pretty special.”
It’s special not only because of the results, but also because of the process. Of the 189 innings the Indians have played during this run, which began on Aug. 24, they have trailed for just four, or 2.1 percent. They have outscored their opponents by a 139-35 margin.
“Pitchers are just filling up the zone with strikes. The defense is unbelievable,” former Met Jay Bruce said. “And I think the thing that stands out the most is it really doesn’t matter who we put out there right now.”
The Indians didn’t dominate this record-breaker. This contest carried some anxiety for the 29,346 folks on site (and this count looked and sounded right, rather than just a tickets-sold metric), the rebuilding Tigers’ ineptitude notwithstanding. The Indians fell behind in the top of the first, 1-0, and starting pitcher Mike Clevinger escaped a jam to keep it there. Even after Bruce slammed a three-run homer in the bottom of the first — another inning in the black — the Tigers kept it close enough that Francona went to his primary relievers.
When Detroit’s Ian Kinsler came up with two outs in the top of the ninth against Cleveland closer Cody Allen, Europe’s “The Final Countdown” blared over the sound system. Kinsler lined the first pitch to Lonnie Chisenhall in left field, and the Indians partook in the normal regular-season victory drill — a handshake line as the scoreboard posted a large “21” and the soundtrack changed to “Cleveland Rocks” by The Presidents of the United States of America.
The vibe couldn’t match the energy felt here last Nov. 2, when the Indians’ Rajai Davis slugged an eighth-inning, tworun homer off the Cubs’ Aroldis Chapman to tie Game 7 of the World Series. Of course, the Cubs went onto prevail, ending their title drought at 108 years and extending the Indians’ run of disappointment to 68 years.
So the Indians now hope that success breeds success. That their excellent play now carries over into the postseason. On Thursday night, against the still-in-the-race Royals, they will try to pass the 1935 Cubs.
“I feel like we’re just showing up on the field to play,” Clevinger said. “It doesn’t feel like we’re going after something besides that same goal to finish October on top.”
Flags fly forever, whereas records are made to be broken. The 2002 A’s didn’t win so much as a playoff series. All they have now is the “Moneyball” movie.
Bruce has a friendship with Scott Hatteberg, the first baseman-designated hitter on those ’02 A’s, from their time together in spring training with the Reds. The two men texted Tuesday night, Bruce said.
“I just said, ‘ Who would’ve thought?’ ” Bruce recalled. “He said, ‘ Good luck, win another one, get a ring.’ ”