Tribe schedule release: WFNY Staff Chat

joshpoloha – The Schedule Game: 2020 Cleveland Indians’ Shortened 60-game Season Edition Baseball is back!…well, kind. With the MLB releasing each team’s 60-game regular-season schedule Monday night, some of the WFNY crew discuss the Cleveland Indians’ schedule.

While it will certainly be a strange season with no fans in attendance and nearly one-third of the usual 162-game regular season, the fact we will be able to watch MLB games on our television screens is certainly something to look forward to. That said, let’s get into some questions in regards to the schedule.

• What are you most looking forward to about the upcoming season?
• What series are you most looking forward to?
• What series are you least looking forward to?

Much like the MLB seems to do as a whole, whoever made the schedule seemed to make it much tougher than it had to be. Only four games against their in-state foe Reds yet six games against the Pirates, seven of 10 games against the Twins are in Minnesota, etc. Isn’t there some software to make this all so much easier? Last but certainly not least, what will the Indians’ record be at the end of the regular season…and will the make the playoffs? If so, will they win the AL Central or be a wild-card team?

Sound off!

gerbs – MLB can’t get out of their own way in screwing things up: in what has always been the natural in-state rivalry and annual Ohio Cup duel, the Indians and Reds only face each other four times to the Pirates six. Why? I’m not really arguing I suppose, as it probably gets the Tribe two more wins as the Pirates are barely a Quad A team, but it would have been nice to…ya know…play your rival more often.

joegilbert – Yeah, MLB just cannot figure out what they are doing. This offseason has been one mess after another. The schedule did not need to be like this with these uneven series but here we are. I am most looking forward to the Twins series throughout the year. Minnesota and Cleveland are the top two teams in the division and so the games should be tough fought playoff-like matchups. I don’t really have a least favorite series. I’m just excited that baseball may be back. I can’t wait to see how the young arms develop and to see if Jose Ramirez can sustain his elite level all year. I think Cleveland will go 37-23

joshpoloha – Has the MLB done anything right this offseason? Seriously. They just can’t get out of their own way. Ever. It is what it is, I guess. That said, while there are certainly some ways I wish the schedule was different, the Indians certainly have one of the easiest schedules in the MLB, at least on paper, so that’s always a plus. I just can’t wait to just sit down, relax, and watch some live baseball on my TV. Just hoping it happens but we’re still over two weeks out so who knows. The 10 games between the Indians and Twins will be vital. Just sucks that seven of those games are in Minnesota. Makes no sense whatsoever.

mgbode – MLB keeping three sets of regional action was the correct call. It does lend itself to teams like the Tribe and Twins having favorable schedules of opponents with minimal travel distances. I am not complaining there. https://mobile.twitter.com/darenw/status/1280275452406489088https://mobile.twitter.com/darenw/status/1280275452406489088>

gerbs – Yes, undoubtedly the closeness with which all the AL & NL Central teams have is going to be a huge boon to their overall records comparatively to the other two divisions. All that travel in such a short amount of time (I think Cleveland has a stretch of 17 games before having an off day) will put a damper on the Easts and especially the Wests.

As far as series I’m excited/not excited for, I really just want baseball back. Being able to see Frankie Lindor and JRam and Carlos Santana and Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger and games against guys like Christian Yelich and Luis Robert and…whoever is good on the Tigers…((Wait is there anyone good on the Tigers?)) just means something to me. My Timehop is filled with pictures of me and my oldest daughter watching baseball together late at night when she couldn’t/wouldn’t sleep and then again the same highlights in the morning while taking a bottle, and I just miss having that time to bond with her. My youngest daughter has yet to watch a sporting event in her life. Getting baseball back, in whatever way, shape or form, will be immeasurable to so many.

andrew – I’m more or less the same. I don’t feel strongly one way or another about any particular season, although I certainly do hate the way the home/away breakdown with the Twins worked out. I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping baseball can actually really play this schedule, because every day I’m becoming less and less confident that they will.

gerbs – Yes, the testing numbers coming out are less than ideal, and while the Indians have only the single positive in Delino DeShields Jr, it’s almost foolish to think that more won’t come and would put a hamper on the roster. Other teams are seeing either no responses due to myriad issues or more positives than they would like.

andrew – To answer Josh’s last question, though, I don’t have a prediction for their record, but I’m not too optimistic that they will make the playoffs. I haven’t been very high on the prospects of this year’s team, although I know plenty of people here who follow baseball a lot more than I do seem to feel better about them than I do. However, the one nice thing about this schedule is that it’s really all just one big crapshoot. The teams who are able to string together a nice hot streak or two are going to find themselves in good position. I have no reason to think the Indians can’t be one of those teams. So nothing will surprise me.

mgbode – This season with a minimal time to prepare as a team will come down to which teams had the most players preparing well on an individual basis since March. Guys like Clevinger and Bieber are outward with their preparation, which is intense.

andrew – That’s a good point as well. And things like that are supremely hard for us to know, which makes this season all the more of a crapshoot. Which, to me, is actually really exciting. I’m fascinated by the possibilities of what could happen if we have a season. I loved the lockout-shortened NBA season in 2011-12 and I think there is so much potential for crazy fun in this baseball season as well.

mgbode – Indeed. Get ready to be inundated with the fact that the 2019 World Series champions started 19-31, which would have meant no postseason at all in the 2020 season environment.

Since the Indians are among the teams people expect to be viable… let us hope that the crazy out-of-nowhere team that is good (in record) for the short stint is someone like the San Diego Padres or Toronto Blue Jays (Not exactly random choices because I do think both of those teams are flawed… yet have enough interesting talent where they could pop like that).

mitchell – A running gag on my favorite baseball podcast (Effectively Wild, hosted by FanGraphs–highly recommend!) is that many of their listener questions can be boiled down to: “If baseball were different, how different would it be?” For example, what would baseball be like if it were played on the moon, or if everyone were ten feet tall? Obviously, this season won’t be as extreme as those impossible examples, but there’s no question, with a raging pandemic and a significantly condensed season, baseball _will_ be different this year.

Now, the question on my mind is, how different will baseball be? Will we learn anything about the nature of baseball from a season in which every game matters more than twice as much? I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out.

mgbode – What decisions change (development back-seat to ability… relief pitcher usage, et cetera) is one of the items I am in most anticipation to see how it all plays out.

mitchell – As far as the Indians season in particular, it’s really difficult to single out individual players in anticipation. Viruses don’t spare specific people based on my excitement. Now, playing in the midwest, never going further south than St. Louis or approaching either coast, could give Cleveland some advantage in health, in addition to the “strength” of schedule mentioned above. Still, it’s certain that even more than usual, attrition is going to happen. Therefore, I’ll name a couple of position groups that I’m really excited about.

I can’t wait to see how they deploy the rotation. With fewer days off than normal, I’m curious if we’ll see a less regular cycle of pitchers than normal to give starters a more typical rest pattern. Relatedly, since every game matters more, will Francona and the front office coordinate the rotation to matchups? Are Rodriguez and Adam Plutko going to pitch in every Tigers series, while Bieber and Clevinger are saved for Minnesota?

The other “position” group I’m looking forward to, bittersweetly, is the reserve group. Obviously, for the sake of winning, I’d rather see Cesar Hernandez than Aaron Bracho, for instance, but players will be sidelined. So, we’re going to get a glimpse of a few prospects that we otherwise might have to wait years for, and that’s exciting.

gerbs – Civale’s and Plesac’s development will be interesting to see, as well as the possibility of Nolan Jones and Daniel Johnson. Both are in Lake County (reserve group) but both could see time in Cleveland this year and getting them some run could be very important for the future of the organization.

mitchell – According to the Indians website, neither Plesac nor Civale is on the active roster, which is frustrating.

gerbs – Both were included in the release of the 60, so that might be an incident of the website being not updated

Cleveland's current working roster contains 55 players.

+40 players will train at Progressive Field
+15 players will train at the alternate site (Lake County)
+club has the ability to add up to five additional players at any time pic.twitter.com/jCl0Be79a9

— Tribeinsider (@tribeinsider) June 28, 2020

mitchell – If I’m reading that correctly, that’s the 40-man.

andrew – So what is the rotation, then, if Civale and Plesac are both not on the 40-man? Biebs, Clev, Cookie, Jeffrey?, then who?

mitchell – Clarification: Civale and Plesac are on the 40-man, but the website says they’re not on the active roster. Like you said though Gerbs, who knows if it’s been updated?

mitchell – Andrew, the fifth is…Plutko…

gerbs – Plutko, but I’m almost certain Civale and Plesac will be included in the rotation. There hasn’t been much of a reason to update the roster page until recently lol

andrew – Man, I just feel like I’d rather see Civale than Plutko

mitchell – Absolutely.

gerbs – Civale will be the next ace

mitchell – The problem is that Plutko is out of options.

andrew – And probably Plesac over Jeffrey, too

mitchell – If Plutko isn’t on the MLB roster, he must pass through waivers. As Cleveland fans, we’re spoiled, but I’m sure, like, the Angels could claim Plutko.

andrew – This is where I don’t fully follow baseball roster management. Because I’d rather the better player (Civale) play and risk someone taking Plutko than to play a potentially lesser player just for the sake of not losing him (And this is nothing against Plutko, who I think it’s pretty damn good for 6th/7th best guy in a rotation…I just want to see the best players play)

mgbode – @andrew – baseball roster management is all crazy this year. I still need to go over whatever rules they landed on because they were talking about easing some of the restrictions on it.

andrew – Crazy, chaotic, and fun.

mgbode – Hopefully.

andrew – I should have put a (*potentially) on that.

mitchell – This is getting off-topic, but yeah, the current MLB system isn’t designed to get the best players at any one time on the field—it’s designed to help each team maximize the value it gets out of each player in the system in a vacuum.

I have no doubt that we’ll see Civale and Plesac this season. Just, right now, they’re not listed on the active roster.

mgbode – Pivoting to the news today on Franmil Reyes… so, the Indians organization was sent pictures of him at a July 4 celebration without a mask, so now he is self-quarantining and getting regular tests before he can re-join the team (also happy birthday today to La Mole). Just a taste of how teams will have to use their depth throughout the season as it shows a positive test is not the only thing that can sideline someone.

Big advantage to teams like the Dodgers and Yankees with stacked upper systems.

mitchell – Well, hopefully, this will set an example as to how serious the teams are, necessarily, taking the pandemic.

The question of depth vs. top-heaviness is an interesting one, and the answer is completely based on health. If the Indians stay healthy, the fact that they’re top-heavy could be an advantage. If they don’t, they’re screwed.