Welcome to the new!

 A.  By the time the Cleveland Guardians play their first game next year I think four things will be true:

1. The starting lineup will look almost the same as it did this year, except that we will likely have one or two rookies in it.  

2. The rotation will, barring injury, be exactly the same as it was ending this year

3. bench and the bullpen will be changed pretty significantly from what they were on Opening Day 2021. It will be filled with more rookies and less veterans.

4.  The payroll will be higher but mostly because guys will be going to arbitration.

B. It's always better to win your last game than lose your last game of the season.  That being said, it looks like these things will be true, as well:

1.  The Guardians will draft 16th in next year's amateur draft (15th worst record in 2012 plus inserted #12 slot for Mets not signing Kumar Rocker in 2020).

2.  The Yankees will have a new manager

3. The Yankees will have a new superstar or two.

4. The Guardians will NOT have a new superstar

5. Assuming I am still alive and lucid, the Cleveland Guardians, good or bad, will still be my favorite TV show.

In closing out the major league season, let me say this.  Thanks to whoever is responsible for bringing us Terry Francona.   He has made this franchise fun to watch because, with him as manager, this team is competitive every time it takes the field.  The front office doesn't always provide him with quality players.   The owner doesn't invest to make sure that we are more competitive on paper year-over-year.

But the son of my favorite Indians' player ever makes it fun to watch.   Let's hope he comes back to be the first manager of the Cleveland Guardians next year.  One more point about Francona.  Our last losing season before this year we wre 68-94.  We would have probably been 68-94 this year if Hale had been the manager all year.  That's what Francona means to this franchise. 

I will end this post by saying this.   When I was a kid and a young adult, the most fun I had that involved the Indians was the September callups and the hope that, that off-season, we could find enough good players from those September boys and off-season moves to make the next year interesting.   I have been blessed over much of my later years, starting in 1994, with having a team that is competitive and fun to watch.   With the players we have now and the ones on the way from the minors, my opinion is that the future looks brighter for the Cleveland Guardians than it ever did for the Cleveland Indians of my youth.  Go Guardians.