Look, here was my thought process:
1. We win the division. The Astros overtake the Yankees for the best record.
2. We play the Yankees and with their pitching woes, we outpitch them and get enough timely hitting that we win in 4 games.
3. An innumerable list of things converge on the Astros-Indians AL Championship series and the Indians win, again, in 6, against all odds of doing so. For example, our bullpen gives up 1 run in 20 innings of work and the Astros bullpen gives up 6 runs in 11 innings and the Astros starters all do David Price impersonations in the post-season.
4. We get to the World Series and play the Cardinals who follow the same path as the Indians. The Indians win in 4 games as sort of an anti-matter exclamation point to how the 1954 World Series went.
But more and more this doesn't look like a possibility. The Indians cannot play perfect enough ball to overcome all the injuries and collapses their team is undergoing. Plus, frankly, Francona's decisions recently have come into question. And the FO is not far behind him when their big September callups are guys who aren't helping now and are unlikely to help next year (e.g., Hoyt and Flaherty). Veteran leadership and off-season 40-man roster management do have importance but who wouldn't rather see Mark Mathias or Ernie Clement instead of Flaherty and who wouldn't rather see Karinchak rather than Hoyt or Maton? At least if you are going to try to compete AND rebuild do it with guys who can fit both of those roles and, at the same time, bring some excitement to the part!
So, given the injuries, the plethora of past-their-prime or never at their prime veterans, the number of key injuries and the general raincloud hanging over the team this year, I am OK if they don't make the playoffs. Really. OK. with it.
Who wants to see a repeat of 2017 and 2018? Certainly not me.
Who is OK with saying that we had another winning season? That is me
Who is OK with not making the playoffs this year given the pretty much expected outcome? That, again, is me.
I am tired. We are in with the rest of have nots in baseball. The only difference is that we have lucked out with cheap, controllable players. Whatever it takes we need to sign Lindor up for life. We need to continue to develop guys. We need to fill the pipeline again.
So I am happy with where the ML team is going, even if that is NOWHERE this year. What I am not happy with is the state of the farm system...but that is a post for another time.
Who is wholly responsible for the PREFERENCE of older, crappier veterans blocking younger players, because he absolutely has no freaking clue how to develop and teach and relate to younger players? Tito!
ReplyDeleteWho will always choke one way or another late in the season while Tito is employed as the manager? The Indians!
Oh, 7 out of the 8 postseason managers are managing their very first MLB team, so spare me with any talk about being a wily veteran, HOF manager, or any other such garbage. Tito has done NOTHING near or in the playoffs while managers much younger than he have balled out. Time for a change!