Cleveland Indians: 4 moments that define a modern fandom
By Chad Porto
The Streak
The Indians were in the thick of a playoff chase as August came to a close. Teams were fighting it out for a post-season birth and the Tribe was hoping for a second straight trip to the World Series. This time, however, with an arguably better team. The Indians started the streak on August 24 against those dang Red Sox and lasted well into football season, some 21-days later.
There wasn’t a game every day for 22-days, but there were two double-headers. One against the Yankees and the other against the Tigers. This helped the team win 15 games in just 14 days. Among the standout performances during the streak, were starters Corey Kluber, Mike Clevenger, and Trevor Bauer who all recorded four wins during that stretch of time.
That wasn’t the only major stat that the team was rocking, as more than half (13) games during that stretch was a blow out of sorts. The team won by four runs more than 13 times and had a Pythagorean record of 21-1 A Pythagorean record measures a team’s expected record based on run differential. The Indians had a plus-105 run differential during the streak. They also only trailed for eight total innings during this stretch of time
There’s also a bit of hilarity in how the streak ended. On the 23rd game of the stretch, the team finally lost. Trevor Bauer was the losing pitcher and it turns out he had blown another 22-game winning streak before. It was during his time at UCLA, where the Bruins were 22-0 to start the season. Bauer lost the 23rd game of the season for them. He’d eventually joke that next time, someone else should start the 23rd game.
When it was all said and done, the Indians started the run with a comfy but gettable 4 1/2 game advantage in the AL Central over the Minnesota Twins. By the end of the run, the division was theirs with the standings going to 13 1/2 games on the Twins. The Twins had a good run too, going 13-8. Yet it wasn’t good enough to not fall nine games in the standings.
The best part of it all? The last win of the streak was not only against a divisional rival in the Royals, but was also the only game that went into extra innings, was the only game that was won with a walk-off and was the last game the Indians needed to win to clinch the AL Central. What a perfect way to end something.