Despite being back at .500 the Cleveland Indians need more consistency

The Cleveland Indians need more offensive consistency, even if it means sitting specific players.

The Cleveland Indians are back to .500 but with little thanks to the lineup as a whole. Despite an early-season slump, Francisco Lindor has four RBI’s in his last four games and has been the only steady performer for the team since the Twins series started. The Indians, however, are 1-3 across that span. Why? Because the lineup has yet to play consistently despite the starting pitching and bullpen being phenomenal early on.

The season isn’t 162 games, you can’t rely on guys getting things together in weeks 12 or 15. If a player is slumping, you have to yank them from the lineup and find someone who can produce immediately. You don’t have the luxury of riding out slumps this year.

Part of that means letting guys play consistently for a few days straight to get their footing. The constant jumbling around that Terry Francona is known for may need to be scaled back to give guys consistency in the lineup.

Franmil Reyes went 1-4 with two RBI’s and two runs against the Reds on Tuesday, hopefully, a sign of things to come. That can’t just be a one-night thing, however. He’s someone the team has huge expectations for and he has to start living up to those expectations. Sandy Leon is another guy who’s done next to nothing since finding himself inserted into the lineup. Turns out Roberto Perez’s offense is more missed than previously expected.

Jordan Luplow and Carlos Santana are among the other big bats that have failed to step up.

After dropping four straight, the Indians need to start finding out answers to their pathetic offensive output. With Shane Beiber having yet another stellar outing, the team can’t afford to waste these days. Every game is so much more important than ever before, and so are impressive starts by the rotation. If the team continues to fail the pitching, the psychological effects may start to creep up and cause pitchers to not be as sharp. After all, what’s the point of getting 14 strikeouts and giving up only two base-runners in a whole game if you’re still unable to muster a single run?

The offense has got to find a way to get back on track if they want to get the post-season and they have to do it fast or run the risk of being ran out of contention.