Countdown to Indians’ 2020 Opening Day – 32

Baseball takes little time off in between seasons, so neither can we. Follow along at Did the Tribe Win Last Night as we count down to March 26, when the Cleveland Indians host the Detroit Tigers for game one of the 2020 season. – BT

Countdown to Opening Day – 32 days

Franmil Reyes looks like he has all of the ability to be a steal and a fan favorite for the Cleveland Indians as one of five players acquired at the trade deadline in 2019 as part of the three-team deal involving starter Trevor Bauer. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 32

Major League Baseball will kick off the 2019 season with its earliest start ever (excluding international openers) as all 30 teams will take the field on March 28. Follow along with Did The Tribe Win Last Night as we count down the days until Opening Day 2019. – BT

Countdown to Opening Day – 32 days

Last season, Adam Rosales made his return to the Majors in September, working in 13 games for the Tribe at all four infield spots to let the heavily used stars of the team catch a bit of a breather before the postseason. Like Rosales’ stay with the Indians, Cleveland’s postseason experience in 2018 was extremely brief.

In taking the field in the number 32, Rosales became the 50th player in Tribe history to wear the number. He is now in camp with the Minnesota Twins on a non-roster invitation, while the Indians have outfielder Trayce Thompson at their Goodyear complex on a similar deal while wearing the 32 himself. Read More

Former Indians Finding Varying Degrees of Success in New Digs

Over the winter there was some gnashing of teeth as the Cleveland Indians waived good-bye to Carlos Santana, Bryan Shaw and Jay Bruce. Santana and Shaw had been on the club for multiple years, while Bruce was an August trade addition last summer.

Most of the fret was focused around the offense and what losing power hitters the likes of Santana and Bruce would do to the every day lineup’s run-scoring potential. As for Shaw, some Tribe fans were all too eager to see him leave. He was the player, however, that manager Terry Francona seemed the most distraught over losing. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 32

While the offseason has been historically slow and the winter has crawled along at an even slower pace, we at Did The Tribe Win Last Night look ahead to the warmer days of the 2018 season by remembering Tribe players past and present.

Countdown to Opening Day – 32 days

The number 32 had been missing in regular action on the diamond for the Cleveland Indians for three and a half years, until Jay Bruce‘s arrival in Cleveland last August as a significant addition for the club’s postseason push.

Bruce is now gone, returning to the same New York Mets that dealt him last season during the waivers trading period on a three-year contract. Read More

Bruce or Santana? The Tribe’s Multi-Million Dollar Question

Every offseason, every Major League Baseball team has tough decisions to make. Most teams – even the good ones – rarely start a new season with every player that they had the year before. Expiring contracts, contract options, and free agency are facts of life for all MLB clubs.

That is why this past season felt so special for the Cleveland Indians. Very few tough decisions had to be made last winter. The ones that were ended up being greeted with happy returns. Mike Napoli had to go, but the Indians upgraded with Edwin Encarnacion. Rajai Davis was not retained, even after his near-heroics in the 2016 World Series. Cleveland did not miss a beat without him. Those players represented the only difficult decisions that the Tribe’s deep thinkers needed to make last offseason.

It will not be so easy this winter.

Cleveland has more free agents and contract options to consider this time around. At the core of every decision the team makes this winter, may be the greatest debate of all – the question of Jay Bruce or Carlos Santana? Read More

Bauer Back on “Short Rest” with Focus on Game 4 Win in New York

Despite what you might have read or been told Monday morning, what Cleveland Indians fans witnessed Sunday night was an incredibly well-pitched and well-fought playoff game, and not the “latest chapter in a tortured history¹” of a Cleveland franchise “intimately connected with pain²”.

For Game 3 of the American League Division Series, Major League Baseball fans were actually treated to a pitchers’ duel (a rarity in the postseason thus far) as Masahiro Tanaka and Carlos Carrasco each took shutouts deep into the night. One mistake, hit over the short porch in right by New York’s Greg Bird off of Cleveland’s All-Star left-hander Andrew Miller, provided the game’s only run as the Yankees staved off eliminated with a 1-0 playoff classic win over the Indians. Read More

Tribe Stuns Yankees with Comeback, 13th Inning Walk-Off; Indians 9, Yankees 8

Things have not gone the way that Yan Gomes would have wanted them to over the last couple of years. Signed to a big contract extension in 2014, he has struggled with his performance at the plate, dealt with several injuries, and watched as his playing time has dwindled into a time share with fellow backstop Roberto Perez. Late season injuries deprived him of a significant role for the Indians in their incredible run through the postseason in 2016, as he appeared solely in the World Series and was 0-for-4, grounding into a double play and striking out twice.

He made sure his first start of the 2017 playoffs was one that he and Indians fans everywhere will not soon forget. His 13th inning walk-off single down the left field line capped six unanswered runs by the Indians as they completed an improbable comeback win over the New York Yankees to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series Friday night. Read More

Killer B’s Help Tribe Blank Yanks for Game 1 Win; Indians 4, Yankees 0

Trevor Bauer brought a no-hitter into the sixth, Jay Bruce was involved in producing all four Cleveland runs, and the familiar bullpen tandem of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen closed out Game 1 in usual fashion as the Indians blanked the New York Yankees with their 20th shutout of the season in a 4-0 victory on Thursday night in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

All questions about Bauer starting the opener of the playoffs for the Indians were silenced as his excellent numbers against the Yankees in 2017 continued in his second ALDS Game 1 start in as many seasons for the Tribe. He contained a strong Yankees lineup all game long and got a big effort from one of the newest members of the ball club. Read More

Indians Wrap Up Regular Season with One More Win; Indians 3, White Sox 1

In the final game of the regular season, the Cleveland Indians did what they have done consistently over the last five weeks, winning a 3-1 decision over the Chicago White Sox in the final warm-up before the team heads into the postseason.

The game may have felt like a formality with nothing riding on this contest with the division clinched and home field advantage locked up against all playoff contenders with the exception of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite little at stake, the Indians got three early runs, some promising pitching performances, and, most importantly, escaped the day with no injuries. Read More

Indians Pummel Pelfrey in Rout of Pale Hose; Indians 10, White Sox 1

Colder weather could not cool off the Cleveland bats on Friday night as the Indians opened the final series of the regular season with a 10-1 rout of the Chicago White Sox from Progressive Field.

Trevor Bauer took the mound for the Indians in his final start of the season as he prepared for the playoffs. Chasing down a personal statistical accomplishment, he would fall just short of that goal, but he added another win to his career-best totals while ending the Tribe’s Friday losing skid at two. Read More

Carrasco in Control as Cleveland Claims 100th Win; Indians 5, Twins 2

The Indians and Carlos Carrasco took full advantage of a Minnesota Twins lineup missing plenty of its regulars on Thursday as Cleveland rolled to a 5-2 victory and its 100th win of the 2017 season.

Less than 12 hours after the Twins celebrated a remarkable run to the postseason when they claimed the final playoff spot in the American League, Minnesota returned to the field looking to deal the Indians their first series loss since July 31-August 1 in Boston. A lineup full of bench pieces and late season call-ups would not be up to the task as Carrasco shut the Twins down in his final playoff tune up. Read More

One More for the Road as Indians Visit Mariners at Safeco Field

The Indians’ rookies and minor league call-ups enjoyed some friendly superhero themed hazing prior to their flight to Seattle on Thursday. The Tribe will look for more on-the-field heroics as the team will take on the Mariners in Cleveland’s final road series of the regular season.

The Indians (96-57) will continue their pursuit of the best record in the Majors after pulling within a game of the Los Angeles Dodgers (97-56) after an incredible run beginning in the last week of August. The team is 27-1 in its last 28 games and sits just four games short of 100 wins on the season, which would mark just the third time in franchise history that the Indians have reached the century mark in victories. They added three more wins to their season total during the week, completing a season series sweep of the Los Angeles Angels to guarantee at least a .500 road trip while extending their road winning streak to a franchise record 14 straight. Read More