By Dominic Capone
A fan base has never had a real reason to be happy after a loss, but that all changed this past Friday in Cleveland. As everyone now knows, the Cleveland Indians went on a “little” 22 game winning streak, which is the longest winning streak in Major League Baseball history, when they passed the 2002 Oakland Athletics by one game. Many people are probably thinking: what about the 1916 Giants? During the past few days, people have noticed a very interesting detail in the middle of their supposed 26 straight wins, there is a “T.” This T stands for a tie. People are claiming that the Giants don’t have the longest winning streak because they tied the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 13th game of that streak, while other people are saying that that game was a rainout in the eighth inning and was later finished. As of right now, it is technically in there as a tie and will be until baseball historians do a bit more research. As for the Indians, they have once again proved why they are on a mission to finish what they lost last year.
Losing a World Series at home, in a game seven, up 3-1 to the Chicago Cubs is a hard pill to swallow, especially because the Indians now have the longest championship drought in baseball at 68 years.
Many baseball experts picked the Indians to make it back to the Fall Classic this year to secure that elusive championship. After missing Michael Brantley and Carlos Carrasco due to injury in the 2016 postseason, the Indians look to have their full team back this postseason. After losing Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis to free-agency and Coco Crisp to retirement, there were many question marks surrounding this team coming into their 2017 campaign. One of the biggest ones was who was going to replace Mike Napoli’s 34 home runs from last year? Well, they found that answer quickly after signing right handed slugger Edwin Encarnacion to a three-year deal worth $60 million. They also added outfielder Austin Jackson who has made himself at home with a .307 batting average and 17 hits during the team’s winning streak.
You can make the case that the Indians win streak is even more impressive than it already is. During these 22 wins, they didn’t have Andrew Miller, arguably the best relief pitcher in baseball. Veterans like Jason Kipnis and Danny Salazar have also missed substantial amount of time this year because of injuries.
Nonetheless, for a team to win 22 straight games they need production every night from different players. They outscored their opponents by 105 runs and also hit the most homeruns in baseball over that time with 41. Seven of their 22 wins were shutouts, while 15 pitchers on their staff had sub-3.00 ERAs. The team also batted .306 and drove in 142 runs, which is 6.45 runs per game. The defense was also a huge factor as the Indians only had eight errors during that span.
Fans in Cleveland, after all these years, finally have something to celebrate. Their basketball team won a championship two years ago, their football team might have just added some pieces to the puzzle that will hopefully contribute to wins and their baseball team is one of the hottest in baseball en route to the postseason. Even though they lost last night, Cleveland fans still appreciate what their team did over these past 22 days and that’s why they were happy, even after a loss.
