Fansided

The Cleveland Indians didn’t choke away the World Series

By Jonathan Griggs

Jun 25, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona (17) in the dugout prior to the game first down at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 25, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona (17) in the dugout prior to the game first down at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Indians may have blown a 3-1 lead in the World Series, but don’t say they choked.

The internet trolls were out in full force following the Indians’ failure to bring home a World Series after jumping out to a commanding 3-1 lead. Even Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green got in on the Twitter fun last night. It certainly didn’t help that two of the final three games were played at Progressive Field.

Any time a team in any sport squanders that type of opportunity it’s totally fair to label it a choke job, but these weren’t normal circumstances. Sadly, the 2016 Cleveland Indians may be remembered for the wrong reasons, but the fact they were even able to take the Chicago Cubs to extra innings in a decisive Game 7 was quite an accomplishment, and the city should feel nothing but pride, even in heartbreaking defeat.

The Tribe had a tremendous regular season, highlighted by a 94-67 record and an improbable march through the American League playoff field against Boston and Toronto. In the end, however, the short-handed Indians didn’t have enough to knock out MLB’s Goliath, while the Cubbies were against the ropes. Yes, Corey Kluber and Andrew Miller were untouchable up until Game 7, Terry Francona’s decision to keep pitching them on short rest ultimately came back to haunt him.

But what other choice did the Indians skipper have? The casual baseball/sports fan may not realize it, but the pitching staff Francona went to battle with this October, consisting of Kluber, Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer, was not the one this team envisioned earlier in the season.

The Indians have assembled one of the better young staffs in the league, equipped with high velocities and dominant strikeout stuff, but unfortunately Cleveland was robbed of the services of Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar — Carrasco was unable to pitch after breaking his hand in September and Salazar was limited to relief work following a forearm and elbow injuries midsummer that derailed his breakout season.

As we saw in last year’s NLCS between the Cubs and the New York Mets, power pitching has the ability to shut down power hitting. New York’s trio of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard dominated the Cubs hitters in a four-game sweep, in which Chicago scored a total of eight runs.

When they’re on, the Cleveland three has the potential to be just as filthy as the Mets’ celebrated group. One would have to think Chicago’s offense doesn’t go off as they did if they didn’t get to face an erratic Bauer and a light-throwing Tomlin in Games 5 and 6, thus shifting the momentum back in their favor for Game 7.

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The 2016 Indians didn’t choke away the chance of winning their first World Series since 1948, contrary to what some have said. If anything, this was a remarkable job by Francona and the front office, who were missing one of their best positional players in Michael Brantley as well as their starting catcher in Yan Gomes, and somehow unearthed productivity in retreads such as Mike Napoli, Rajai Davis and Coco Crisp.

The baseball world was treated to one of the better World Series in recent times, but in a strange way it feels as if we missed out an even more remarkable story.

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