The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
THAT’S A WRAP
Indians finish regular season with 102 wins; they await winner of Twins-Yankees in ALDS
An Indians fan celebrates the team’s win over the White Sox in Cleveland on Sunday. Indians got their AL-best 102nd victory, beating the White Sox, 3-1, during their regularseason finale.
On the first day of October, the sun did a lot of shining at Progressive Field.
It was a fitting backdrop on the final day of one of the most eventful and memorable regular seasons in the history of the Indians.
With a 3-1 victory over the White Sox, the Indians ran their record to 102-60.
They finished with the best record in the American League, overtaking the Astros with a late-season surge that included a franchise-record and American League-record 22-game wining streak. That streak begin in late August, ended in the middle of September and transformed a season that through July hadn’t measured up to sky-high expectations.
The Indians stayed red hot after the streak ran its course, winning 11 of their last 14 games to secure home-field advantage for as long as they are alive in the AL playoffs.
The 102 victories this season was the second-highest total in franchise history, surpassed only by the 111 wins amassed by the 1954 Indians.
In 1995’s strike-shortened season, the Indians posted 100 victories.
The postseason journey begins on Oct. 5 at Progressive Field with Game 1 of the best-of-five AL Division Series.
Supplying the opposition will be the winner of the Oct. 3 AL wild card game between the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins.
Here are takeaways from the final day of the 2017 regular season:
Francona reflects on the ups, downs and way ups
Indians manager Terry Francona is a master of the even-keeled approach to the 162-game marathon of the regular season.
He kept expressing faith in his players when they were struggling as a team and did not go overboard when they righted the ship and won 22 straight games.
“For whatever reason, it took us a while to get our rhythm, our footing, whatever it is,” Francona said. “Once they did, they never took their foot off the gas. They just kept playing. As a staff, we’re really proud of these guys. It’s a special regular season. Now, we’ll go and embrace the next challenge.”
Pitchers lived up to the hype
The Indians went into the season with a starting rotation many analysts rated as the best and deepest in the big leagues. There were bumps in the road along the way, including some early inconsistency and stays on the disabled list for Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar and Josh Tomlin.
After the All-Star break, most of the kinks got worked out and the starters were usually rock-solid and often spectacular.
Tomlin (10-9, 4.98 ERA) worked 5 1/3 innings in the regular-season finale, surrendering one run on four hits to become the fifth Tribe starter to reach double digits in victories.
Corey Kluber finished 18-4 with a 2.25 ERA, the lowest in both leagues. He is a strong favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award for the second time in his career. Carlos Carrasco (18-6, 3.29 ERA) and Trevor Bauer (17-9, 4.19 ERA) are rolling into the postseason in great form. Mike Clevinger (12-6, 3.11 ERA) emerged as a bonafide rotation guy but has been moved to the bullpen for the postseason. Salazar (5-6, 4.28 ERA) seems to have recovered fully from injuries and inconsistency but is no cinch to make the 25-man roster for the ALDS..
The team’s talented, deep corps of relief pitchers held up its end of the bargain from first pitch to last in the regular season. Cody Allen worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth against the White Sox to earn his team-high 30th save.
Francona used five other relievers in the game, including lefthander Andrew Miller.
One of the heroes of last year’s postseason run to Game 7 of the World Series, Miller seems to be substantially recovered from an aching knee that twice sent him to the disabled list.
Indians pitchers notched 14 strikeouts against the White Sox on Oct. 1, the 92nd game this season in which they recorded 10 or more strikeouts. That’s a major-league record, as is their season total of 1,614 strikeouts.
Their team ERA of 3.30 was the lowest in the big leagues.
The hitters found their grooves, too
Much the same as the pitchers, the hitters took a while to warm to the task during the regular season.
Jose Ramirez (.318, 29 home runs, 83 RBI, 90 extra-base hits) was hot from the start and carried the offense when fellow All-Star Francisco Lindor was uncharacteristically quiet with his bat for two months.
The same could be said of slugger Edwin Encarnacion, the offseason’s big free-agent signee.
Lindor (.273, 33 home runs, 89 RBI, 81 extrabase hits) and Encarnacion (.258, 38 home runs, 107 RBI) both finished with flourishes.
Up and down the batting order, the Indians got contributions in the last two months to secure their second straight AL Central Division title. Their run differential of plus-264 was the highest in both leagues.
The Brantley decision
Michael Brantley, a twotime AL All-Star, returned on Sept. 30 after a sevenweek stay on the disabled list with an ankle injury. He made pinch-hitting appearances in the final two games but did not play in the outfield.
Francona said some “really tough decisions” will have to be made on the 25man playoff roster. Presumably, one of those will center on whether Brantley is sufficiently ramped up to return to full duty by Game 1 of the ALDS.
Brantley, who is batting .299 with nine home runs and 52 RBI in 90 games, told reporters after the game the ankle feels much better and he’s ready to play.
“This is not my choice,” Brantley said.
Paying customers responded
Attendance was not the issue this season it has been in recent seasons.
With a crowd of 30,036 on Oct. 1 — just shy of a full house — regular-season home attendance was 2, 048,138 in 81 dates for a per-game average of 25,286.
That’s an increase of 456,471, or 29 percent, from last season’s total of 1,591,667.
This Indians last reached the 2 million mark in attendance in 2008 when the total was 2,169,722.
There were 13 sellouts this season at Progressive Field, the most since 34 in 2001.