What’s wrong with the Cleveland Indians?

The Indians are dealing with a disaster before the postseason.

The Cleveland Indians were 26-15 entering play Sept. 8 and the team looked poised to take at least one of the two spots in the division for this year’s expanded postseason. Then came the losing.

The Indians are now 26-23 and in the midst of an eight-game losing streak that just saw the team allow two walk-off wins to the Chicago Cubs. One involved consecutive hit-by-pitches to end the game.

The team now has a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers that is now mathematically relevant. The Tigers taking three or even sweeping would have them fighting for one of the Wild Card spots in the American League. So what is going on with the Indians?

The same issues over and over

The Indians are known for having a dominant pitching staff. That is why nights like Wednesday are so frustrating. Aaron Civale pitched six innings of two-run baseball and the offense managed two runs until the game finally ended at the bottom of the 10th inning. A similar problem showed up last Friday when Shane Bieber took his first loss of the season in what was only a 3-1 defeat to the Minnesota Twins.

There is also the issue of bad managing. Sandy Alomar is currently filling in for Terry Francona and has made several head-scratching decisions. A notable one came Tuesday when he decided to use backup catcher Sandy Leon as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. The bench was full and Alomar relied upon a player batting .148 in limited action this season.

Another head-scratcher came when Alomar refused to use Brad Hand in either of the losses in Chicago. There were no true save situations, but Francona had gained a reputation for using his best relievers in high-leverage situations. But Alomar forgot that lesson and the bullpen took two losses in the series.

The decisions continue throughout the organization such as deciding to play journeyman Mike Freeman over someone like Yu Chang or even top prospect Nolan Jones. The same goes for trotting out Delino DeShields on a regular basis. Indians Twitter can barely handle either scenario.

When the pitching is solid, the offense can’t hit. And when the offense can hit, the pitching struggles. Such is the vicious cycle the Indians have seemingly been in all season.

The crazy thing is that the Indians are still overwhelming favorites to grab one of the two available Wild Card spots. The team is still four games up on the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, and the Tigers. With 11 games to play the Indians just need to snap this streak at some point and they should be safe. Even getting a measly three wins could provide an insurmountable lead.

Some fans look to players like Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez to be the saviors of the offense. But when a key bat like Carlos Santana is batting .202 and slugging .315, the star infielders can only do so much. The same is true when the bottom of the lineup features the likes of Austin Hedges, Oscar Mercado, or anyone else failing to hit .200.

Dominant pitching can only take a team so far if the offense is not there. The manager also has to be smart about how he uses his staff and right now Alomar, albeit in an interim role, appears lost.

The good news is the Indians have four against the Tigers to right the ship. If they can’t at least take two games, making it to the postseason will no longer be a lock in the final week of the season.