Is This The Year?
Is this the year the Indians win the World Series?
Starting last year, I really felt as though the Indians had a shot. The starting pitching was excellent, we had stars in Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley, and we had some up-and-comers who were supposed to put us over the top (Francisco Lindor and Gio Urshela). Then, Sports Illustrated puts the Tribe on the cover, and I’m sure at that point we are at a minimum making the playoffs.
But then the injury bug hits us, players disappoint, our starting pitching is only average to slightly above average. The team could never get hot enough to get into the playoffs, finishing with an extremely disappointing 81-80 record.
So enter 2016, the expectations are once again at an all-time high. We have Lindor all season, who should have been rookie of the year last season, Kipnis and Yanimal are fully healthy, and our starting pitching is supposed to tear up the league.
But I am still hesitant to put all of my confidence in this team.
What makes this team different from last year?
The only thing I see that’s different is no one is injured yet, oh wait that’s not true, Michael Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall are starting the season on the DL.
See, that’s the main problem I have. We are putting these high expectations for the Warriors of the Cuyahoga completely on assumptions, rather than facts. Sure, the starting rotation has the potential to be the best in the MLB, but they didn’t show that last season. Sure, Yan Gomes could return to form after an off season last year, but how do we know that for sure? Sure, Michael Brantley could come back from surgery and be the same player as before, but I’m not 100% positive on that. None of these things are guaranteed, and that is why I am not getting my hopes up…yet.
Don’t get me wrong, I will be at every playoff game if they make it, I will watch 90-95% of their games at Progressive Field or on TV this year, and I will rock my Indians gear the minute it gets warmer outside. But the point I’m trying to make is that I am going to wait a month or two before getting my expectations extremely high. I couldn’t take how disappointed I was in the Indians last season, and I don’t want to put my expectations up high again only to have them destroyed by the injury bug and players underperforming.
HOWEVER, LET’S GO WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!! ROLL TRIBE!
