The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Tribe is World Series favorite in Vegas
No team in baseball has been hotter than the Indians over the last five weeks, and Las Vegas has taken notice.
VegasInsider.com on Sept. 29 posted its MLB Future Odds. The website lists the Indians as favorites to win the World Series at 3-1. The Dodgers are slightly behind the Tribe at 7-2.
With the Indians 3-1 favorites, anyone betting $100 on the Indians to win the World Series would win $300, plus their original $100, if the Indians do triumph.
The Indians are 8-5 favorites to win the American League pennant followed by the Astros at 9-4.
It will be a disappointment if the Indians don’t return to the World Series. But will the season be deemed a failure if they don’t win it?
The Indians have lost only three times in their last 35 games heading into a Sept. 30 game against the White Sox. They set an American League record by winning 22 straight games in a streak that began Aug. 24, and they have proven in the 13 games since that the streak was no fluke.
Last year, the Indians were like the Little Engine that Could. Starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar were injured and so was All-Star left fielder Michael Brantley. Yet the Tribe still led the Cubs, the team that from the start of 2016 spring training was supposed to win it all, 3-1 after four games in the World Series. These Indians are better than the team that took the Cubs to Game 7 before losing, 8-7, in 10 innings.
The Indians are 101-59 heading into Sept. 30. It is their highest win total since 1954, when they finished 111-43 back when the schedule was 154 games.
The Indians’ .721 winning percentage remains the all-time record for an American League team, but that is not how the 1954 Indians are remembered by historians. They are remembered for being swept by the New York Giants in a time when The World Series was the only postseason baseball knew.
Fair or unfair, the 2017 Indians will be remembered the same way if they don’t at least get back to the World Series.
Understanding Irving
More than two months ago, Kyrie Irving shocked the NBA by asking to be traded from the Cavaliers, and although he was never quoted saying so, ESPN reported Irving was tired of playing in the shadow of LeBron James.
Irving more or less confirmed that in a recent interview on ESPN’s “First Take” without mentioning James by name.
“I want to be extremely, extremely happy, like, in perfecting my craft,” Irving said. “And that was the only intent that I had in all of this.”
As the best player in the NBA, James casts a giant shadow — and he enjoys doing so. That isn’t a bulletin, but during Cavaliers media day on Sept. 25 he made it clear just how important he thinks he is by taking credit for the player Irving has become. Never mind that the Cavaliers thought enough of Irving to select him with the first pick in the 2011 draft after James’ first of four years with the Miami Heat.
“I had a ton of emotions,” James said when asked for his reaction to Irving asking to be traded. “I tried to do whatever I could to help the kid out to be the best player he could be, tried to help him be a better leader, a better scorer, a better floor general, a better defender, a better passer, a better leader vocally.
“I tried to give him as much of the DNA as I could, because at some point, when he was ready to take over the keys, I was ready to give them to him.”
Not once did James say Irving was a pretty good player in his own right, and Irving is. James did not teach Irving those gravity-defying moves to the hoop. James said his only regret is that Irving “has taken that DNA to Boston,” so James is already taking credit in advance for any future success Irving has.
“I wish the kid great health,” James said. “The kid wanted to do what was best for, I guess, for his career. I give credit to our GM Koby (Altman) for granting that for him. Other than that, I don’t really have much more to say. I just hope that I was the – I tried to do whatever I could to try to help the kid be as great as he could be or as great as he wanted to be, and that’s it.”
James, without bitterness or malice, says he has no advice for Irving now that Irving is on another team.
• Altman has been a busy man in his first year as Cavaliers general manager. If signing Dwyane Wade was his last major move before the regular season begins, he will have finished the offseason with a flourish.
“You think about DWade and you obviously think about three-time NBA champion, Finals MVP, 12-time All-Star and even snuck in a scoring title in 2009,” Altman said at Wade’s introductory news conference. “I didn’t forget about that. But what we’re so excited about is his championship DNA, his undying commitment to winning, his work ethic, his attitude and his leadership that he’s going to bring to the table every single day.
“He’s going to help this team a ton on the court, but also in the locker room. We’re just really, really fortunate that we’re adding Dwyane Wade, a player of this caliber to this team for this year.”
Wade is with the Cavaliers on a one-year contract, as is guard Derrick Rose.
Monsters’ Socktober drive
The Cleveland Monsters open their 2017-18 season at 7 p.m. Oct. 7 against the Rockford Ice Hogs at Quicken Loans Arena. Some familiar faces and some new ones fill the roster.
Brad Thiessen is the only goalie on the team back from last year. Jonas Korpisalo is with the Blue Jackets, and Anton Forsberg now plays for the Chicago Blackhawks. Mattis Kivlenieks and Ivan Kulbakov are listed as goaltenders along with Thiessen.
Centers Alex Broadhurst, Justin Scott and Jordan Maletta are back from last year’s team, as are defensemen John Ramage and Dean Kukan.
The Monsters are holding a “Socktober Sock Drive” for every home game in October. Fans attending games on Oct. 7, 21, 22, 27, 28 and 31 can help homeless shelters by donating new pairs of socks at designated drop-off sites within Quicken Loans Arena.
Socks are often requested at homeless shelters but not often donated, according to the Monsters news release.
I didn’t know that
… until I read my Snapple bottle cap
One lemon tree will produce about 1,500 lemons a year . ... The sun comprises about 99 percent of our solar system’s mass . ... There are more donut shops per capita in Canada than in any other country . ... An octopus has three hearts. ... A full moon is nine times brighter than a half moon . ... Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
Reach Schudel at JSchudel@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @jsproinsider