Friends become foes in October
BOSTON— Eventually, the script is going to involve too many fitting story angles for Hollywood to take it seriously. After an injury bug ravaged their roster, the Cleveland Indians held strong to secure their first division title in nine years.
Achaotic sequence of events during the final weekend of the regular season handed the Tribe home-field advantage for their opening post-season series against Boston. Terry Francona directed the Indians past his former franchise, the Red Sox, and forced David Ortiz from the field at Fenway Park for the final time.
Now, as the Indians implausibly stand one step away from their first World Series appearance in 19 years, they will clash with an organization captained by Mark Shapiro, Cleveland’s former head honcho. Shapiro relocated north of the border at the end of last season after 24 years in Cleveland.
Another post-season series, another juicy storyline. Shapiro’s family finally moved in to its new abode in mid-August, when the Blue Jays and Indians played a thrilling threegame set at Progressive Field. Because of that, Shapiro couldn’t make the trip.
He missed Tyler Naquin’s gameending, inside-the-park home run and Jose Ramirez’s timely two-run blast. He’ll get a chance to make another venture or two to Cleveland, though.
“How could it be any other way than that?” said Indians owner Paul Dolan.
“I’m actually thrilled about that. I’m happy for Mark. It’ll be fun to battle with him and spend some time with him in the process, too.”
In an interview with cleveland.com earlier this year, Shapiro said he was relieved that the Indians and Blue Jays only met six times.
“They aren’t guys I want to pull against,” he said of his former team. “It’s not a city I want to root against.”
Well, that number might double over the next 10 days when mentor meets apprentice.
“For both of us to advance to the ALCS is really a dream come true,” said Chris Antonetti, the Indians’ president of baseball operations. “At a minimum, we know one of the two of us is going to end up in the World Series. Obviously, right now, I’ve got a strong preference on which one, but I’ve got an immense amount of respect for Mark and Ross (Atkins) and the leadership group there. I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for Mark.”
Shapiro hired Atkins, a longtime Indians executive, to serve as Toronto’s general manager. The initial front office reshuffling received plenty of backlash from the fan base. Former GM Alex Anthopoulos made a slew of trades last season, which helped to vault the Blue Jays to their first post- season appearance in 22 years.
They bowed out against the Royals in the ALCS and, when Shapiro took the reins, Anthopoulos exited. Shapiro took a ton of heat.
“Listen, the situation is not what I thought it would be when I was evaluating the decision,” he told cleveland.com before the season. “It’s not what I imagined it would be when you think about leaving someplace after 24 years. These are not jobs you do with popularity or external validation being your motivation. Otherwise, you set yourself up for a very fragile existence.
“It was important for me to try to understand that so I could effectively communicate and manage through it. But once the situation was what it was, it was, ‘This is the situation. These are the circumstances. I need to manage through it. I need to keep going.’ ”
Toronto’s roster — tweaked here and there — has proven skilled enough to at least match last season’s run. The Blue Jays boast a deep, powerful lineup and a steady rotation. They supplemented their bullpen with several mid-season acquisitions.
“They’re a tough task,” said Cleveland reliever Cody Allen. “They’re a tough assignment. And they’re playing really good baseball right now, but so are we. We’re excited for it.”
The Blue Jays bounced Baltimore from the AL wild-card game before they dismissed the Rangers in three games in the division series. Before that, they helped the Indians obtain home-field advantage for the ALDS with a pair of victories in Boston during the final weekend. That’s just a matter of old friends lending a hand. How fitting.
“It’s going to be a really good matchup,” said Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway. “Obviously, an unbelievable lineup. We’re going to have to do our homework and make sure we’re prepared going in. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”