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October 12, 2016The Cleveland Indians versus Marco Estrada
October 13, 2016Don’t let anyone tell you the series the Cleveland Indians just had with the Boston Red Sox was close. The Tribe swept the Sox, while ending the career of one David “Big Papi” Ortiz. Sure, two of the three games ended up being one-run wins, which means that Boston could have stole a game. But you know what? They did not get it done.
Individual games that end up being close doesn’t necessarily indicate a close series. There can be a clearly superior team whose results beared out better over the longer set of outcomes. Take a look at this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers Round 1 series with the Detroit Pistons. The Cavs were better across the board, but the Pistons were able to come within two and five points during a couple of their losses in the sweep. While the Red Sox were a better opponent than those Pistons, the Indians held home field advantage for a reason; even if Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar were shelfed for the series.
A series that could have gone either way should have advantages held by either team. What advantage did the Red Sox possess over the series? Let’s run through the list:
- Starting pitching? The Indians held early leads in every single ballgame.
- Bullpen? Andrew Miller and Cody Allen were the talk of baseball despite not even having their best stuff due to Terry Francona’s utilization of them. Each of those leads held up. The Red Sox relievers did an admirable job keeping two of the games close, but the best anyone could argue this category is a tie.
- Baserunning? Mike Napoli became only the second player to steal a base off David Price over the last two seasons.1 More telling was that the Indians aggressiveness to take the extra bag put pressure on the Red Sox defense to make plays causing mistakes. In Game 1, Roberto Perez caught left fielder Andrew Benintendi completely by surprise by tagging up on a Carlos Santana fly ball, which turned that play into a sacrifice.
- Defense? It took until Game 3 for the Boston defense to even show up. Often in the first two games, the Red Sox would extend the Indians offensive innings with poor play. They were only charged with one error on the series, but that single mark in the scorebook was not indicative of their play.
- Hitting? While neither club’s essential middle-of-the-order hitters were driving in runs, it was Tribe who saw their bottom three hitters carry the load as Roberto Perez, Lonnie Chisenhall, Tyler Naquin, and Coco Crisp each took turns being the hero by driving in crucial runs. Overall, the Indians hit .271/.317/.458 and the Red Sox hit .214/.278/.378, which is not even close.
To sum up, the Tribe kicked Boston’s tail in every major facet of the game. The final scores may have hinted otherwise, but the series was not close. Sure, it was Because Baseball and the small sample sizes of October were in play. Regardless, the Red Sox were not “the better team” as Ortiz and many pundits said after the game. The Indians played better because the Tribe executed as the superior team. If you don’t believe me, then you can look to the regular season record, playoff series record, or explain exactly where Boston proved it was better in this series.2
As the national media makes remarks about that amazing Toronto Blue Jays offense (scored less runs than the Indians) and how well those Blue Jays starting pitchers have been doing (while ignoring the bullpen, defense, and baserunning — all clear Tribe advantages), don’t worry. The major sports networks can continue to be in the dark about the Cleveland Indians, speaking to the national audience as if the team lucked in to 94 wins. The Tribe, meanwhile, will just continue to sneak up on everybody and just keep doing what they do best: Winning ballgames.
31 Comments
Good article
Meanwhile, 4000 and 4400 tickets remain on Stubhub. Prepare for lots of TOR fans and way too many empty seats.
Good stuff, Michael.
To flog a cliche, the Tribe was simply more fundamentally sound than Boston.
I think Roberto Perez was the hero of the series, having played such a big part in setting the tone with a Game 1 win. He tagged a HR, he tagged out a runner, and he tagged up on that fly ball, the last being such a huge play as it turned out.
historically speaking, it seems every year the pundts are completely wrong about one team in the MLB playoffs, and thats the team that ends up winning the series. Over and over again I recall talking heads coming to a consesus about how a series will go and then it goes the other way on them. So I love it. This makes me happy. Keep on keepin on “experts”.
THAT’S MY BOY!
There will not be an empty seat in the house. A lot of those sales are people fishing for scalpers prices. There were quite a few fans at the 2nd Sox game I went to (not nearly as many were there for game 1), and they did not have a particularly good time. Not that anyone was nasty to them.
okay , so i’m a little green with envy … but i am happy for my WFNY brethren … bring it on home ! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/84801fbbe0ff138c09f2353d457d9abe95623af4a7863c5e7891a533ffe79477.png
Narratives, narratives, narratives…….
Sox blew the HFA last week of the season. We all know those games don’t count.
They were hungover from the 3 day Ortiz farewell party. Seriously I heard that on MLB radio yesterday.
Their vaunted offense was “tentative”. Whatever that means.
The Indians owe their success to the Boston holdovers. Ahh, the Cubs?
Don’t get me started on #TerriblyBroadcastedSports.
Strengths of the Indians are pitching and defense. Tribe played outstanding defense in the series. Other than Coco’s throws, they did not miss a beat and turned in some spectacular plays. And Coco was basically responsible for all 4 runs in Game 3.
It’s not like the pitching was perfect. Shaw gave up a HR, Miller got clubbed around in Game 3 and they most definitely had Allen on the ropes, in the 9th, at Fenway. Shaw got pulled (TY Tito), Miller destroyed the rest of the order and Allen pulled his usual Houdini. None of this would be surprising to anyone who followed this team this year.
Perez, Chisenhall and Crisp each went hero in their own respective games.
So in summation of that series our 1,3,4 pitchers/bullpen quieted the best lineup in the AL and our 7-8-9 hitters produced.
The one thing the Red Sox did not blow is a 3-1 lead because they never had such a lead to blow.
It appears that Pedroia’s and Betts admittedly great plays in Game 3 wallpaper over the Boston defense for the rest of the series.
7-8-9 had more RBI’s than the Red Sox had runs for the series.
Can someone drop the “Orson Welles intense applause” GIF here?
I have to say TB2, as a team, I have come to appreciate the Tiggers this year. They took it on the chin, but played like sportsmen. Problem they have is Miggy and VMart are now getting up there.
Conversely, I can’t stand the Royals. I’m convinced they were throwing at our guys and generally trying to cause a brawl to effect CLE in the postseason. Perez is the only one I have any respect for on that club.
Pedroia has two great plays, and two monstrously disastrous plays. Case can be made he cost them at least game 2.
Betts made a nice over the shoulder catch that 60% of MLB outfielders should make, including Chis.
hi JPF … Miggy & V-Mart are still performing at a high level , but the window of opportunity is closing fast.
good luck the rest of the way.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9df6207968926f6ed4b5deb724118c401b649cdfcd381241ed97bc56f70c2018.gif
Thank you!
All the non-Tribe fan people that I know felt that the Indians clearly looked like the superior team. Not sure what the national media is saying, but meh. Whatever. ESPN gonna ESPN.
My god the inflation on those tickets is insane. I got upper bleachers for $92 a piece (insane). But now the seats next to mine are on Stubhub for $145. FOR THE BLEACHERS!!
People in CLE/Ticketbrokers have overestimated the demand and market value for these games.
I loved every minute of it. Oh and lucky us, stuck with TBS again. Woof.
Not to mention Pedroia’s 9th inning plate appearances Game 1 and 3.
Overall he was an abject disaster.
If the Cubs and Indians square off in the WS….whoo boy, those ticket prices you mentioned are gonna seem cheap.
I rather enjoyed watching him pout.
(he did apologize for his Game 1 tantrum to the umpire crew later)
I’m more nervous on how the Tribe will pitch to Lucroy this series. After all, he totally carried Texas in the ALDS against — wait, what? Oh they didn’t? Oh, how nice.
I’m more nervous on how the Tribe will pitch to Lucroy this series. After all, he totally carried Texas in the ALDS against — wait, what? Oh they didn’t? Oh, how nice.
No doubt, I balked @ $92 from the Indians. I’d imagine WS for Upper Bleachers will be around $145 base with the secondary market jumping to $300s because Chicago isn’t much of a drive.
No doubt, I balked @ $92 from the Indians. I’d imagine WS for Upper Bleachers will be around $145 base with the secondary market jumping to $300s because Chicago isn’t much of a drive.
“Less costly” is the phrase you meant. It’ll look cheap to the Cubs fans.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0b608dcdcb291f819879e6c2a28520fce287ea5acb3b12a1e3f309a58dc1329.jpg
Ha. SRO at Wrigley is $2300.
None of these may be confirmed true, but they have not been confirmed false either