Cleveland Indians: 6 moves Tribe should make to win World Series in 2020

Six moves the Cleveland Indians should make to win the World Series in 2020, ending the organization’s 71-year drought without a championship.

For the 71th straight October, the Cleveland Indians will not be ending their season by bringing the Commissioner’s Trophy to northeast Ohio.

Give the 2019 Indians credit, though. The group battled, staying in contention for the division crown and then the Wild Card before finally bowing out and running out of gas in the second-to-last series of the season.

The players should be credited for keeping Cleveland in the race, but for a championship starved fan base, plenty will look back and ask: “What could have been?”

For the front office to avoid making significant upgrades to the outfield until July was downright reprehensible. Games matter in April and May, a cold, hard truth delivered to frugal team that came within games of making the postseason.

Early lineups included Jake Bauers, Eric Stamets, Brad Miller, Max Moroff and Hanley Ramirez. Some of that was because of injury to stars (Jason Kipnis, Franciscon Lindor), but you get the idea. It’s a miracle this team won 93 games!

Meanwhile, fans waited weeks, and then months for the organization to finally promote Oscar Mercado. Guess what? He’s good and was great in Spring Training. Would’ve been nice to have seen him in April.

The same goes for the end of the season and James Karinchak. The bullpen was desperate for an elite arm after Brad Hand‘s arm went tired. Was winning the Triple-A title more important? Why did it take so long to promote him?

Injuries were a constant demoralizer to this franchise throughout the season, yet the Terry Francona‘s team found a way to overcome. We know the names: Kluber, Carrasco, Lindor, Kipnis, Jose Ramirez, Tyler Naquin, Hand; all missed chunks of time.

So while the organization came up short again, the future is still bright and the window to win is still open, thanks to the next generation of starting pitchers. Here’s six moves the Tribe should make to win the World Series in 2020.