Kluber seals the deal and other things

First,  if there is any voter who does not vote for Corey Kluber as their AL Cy Young Award winner then that person is not being honest with themselves.

Kluber's overall stats are better.
Kluber's stats vs teams going to the playoffs are WAY better. 
Kluber's second half stats (in the what have you done for me lately) are much better
Kluber's stats in September are as good or better.

Look, Chris Sale has had a great year and is clearly an ace pitcher and, in the playoffs, maybe he outpitches Kluber.  But the Cy Young is about the regular season.   In any other year he would have run away with the Cy Young in the AL.   No one else would have gotten a first place vote.  

But this is that unusual year.   Yeah, voters like their East Coast and West Coast guys.   But, I will say it again, anyone who votes for Sale over Kluber is not voting in the spirit of this award and, in awards like this, it should NOT be a popularity contest.  It should be about performance and, if you look at it that way, you have to vote for Kluber. 

To dream on dreams, imagine this:

• What if Michael Brantley was healthy and productive now
• For that matter, imagine if Chisenhall was his early season self and Guyer was his end of 2016 self to form a platoon in LF. 
• Imagine if Salazar could have maintained the stuff that he had between his two most recent injuries.
• Imagine if Urshela could hit even .270 with an OPS of .750. 

That being said, the Indians have done a great job even though they are missing a bunch of quality players for a bunch of time this year.  I still think if Miller, Allen and Shaw are lights out and if we hit enough, the loss of the above guys either from being on the DL or from not being as productive as I think they could be, is something the Indians can weather, even if the stifling pressure that will be this year's playoffs. 

As far as the other Indians' awardees, it would be hard to believe that either Jose Ramirez or Francisco Lindor wins the AL MVP.   Stranger things have happened but I think, in this case, it is likely to be a close vote with a bunch of guys getting first place votes but, in the end,  a coast guy will win it. 

We still have a lot to do.   I still believe that we could run the table in these last 6 games.  The Twins are exhaling as it looks like they have locked up the second wildcard.  They may consider these meaningless games as I guess they have been treating every game in the past two weeks like a win at all costs game.  Not saying they will let up but they might. 

I am thinking that Francona already has his first round roster set but I could be wrong.  He could have a different roster if he was playing the Yankees than if he was playing Minnesota.   More on that in the next week.  If he already has it made up, look for him to only pitch those guys this week.   If he is waiting to see who he plays, you may see a few more pitchers used than those who would be on the 25 man playoff roster.  His 25th man might change depending on who we play in the first round, too.   I think it is fascinating to speculate what he might do.   In the end, however, I trust whatever he does with one exception.   He can't just put guys (see Kipnis and Salazar) on this roster because they are veterans.   Guys have to be on the roster because they have been and are expected to be productive.   That is my only watchout for Francona as he has, in the past, been known to favor veterans. 

OK, let's have some fun and get ready for the playoffs in the next week.  Knock on wood that we get healthy in that period, too.