Lead down to 4. Francona uses 3 pitchers to face four hitters in the 9th, Cleveland wins 4-3. Lindor hits a 2 run HR, despite near exhaustion from never getting rested.

 

I am amused by your humor. 

So Cleveland is calling up a reliever with a 22.9 (!) K/9 in the minors this year. That is 74 strikeouts in 30.1 innings.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/09/indians-to-promote-james-karinchak.html

So Cleveland is calling up a reliever with a 22.9 (!) K/9 in the minors this year. That is 74 strikeouts in 30.1 innings.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/09/indians-to-promote-james-karinchak.html

won't that completely ruin his long term future?

won't that completely ruin his long term future?

I hope the Twins make the same mistake with their next 22.9 K/9 guy.

I hope the Twins make the same mistake with their next 22.9 K/9 guy.

Don't hold your breath ...

The Cleveland loss last night did more than clinch the division for the Twins -- it may have buried Cleveland in the wild card race. In just one day, their wild card odds dropped from 43.7% to 13.6% over at Fangraphs.

 

They're now 1.5 games back of Tampa, and 2 games back of Oakland, with the following remaining schedules:

 

CLE - 1 vs CWS, 3 vs WSN

TBR - 3 vs TOR

OAK - 4 vs SEA

 

Washington has clinched a wild card spot, but can still play for home field advantage. They lead the Brewers by 1 game, but the Brewers hold the tiebreaker and are leading this afternoon vs the Reds, and play their final 3 in Colorado.

Cleveland's down 7-0 to the White Sox - so it appears the pixie dust has worn off. You gotta give them credit, they played their butts off in the second half. Unfortunately for them, the A's and Rays had phenomenal seasons as well. That will be a fun Wild Card game to watch.

I wonder what Cleveland does in the offseason. There have been rumors that they will trade Lindor, which I think puts them in rebuild mode. However, they have such good starting pitching, that they could be pretty good even without Lindor. I thought the Tribe's lineup was top-heavy and the loss of one of their key top of the order hitters would really hurt their offense.

 

I wonder what Cleveland does in the offseason. There have been rumors that they will trade Lindor, which I think puts them in rebuild mode. However, they have such good starting pitching, that they could be pretty good even without Lindor. I thought the Tribe's lineup was top-heavy and the loss of one of their key top of the order hitters would really hurt their offense.

Cleveland is going to have a tough off-season, not matter how one looks at it.

Cleveland officially eliminated today.

It's really wonderful to see Cleveland is eliminated. They're a team that really did not deserve to take a playoff spot from Oakland or Tampa. Cleveland, I think, was 18-1 against Detroit. I realize Oakland had Seattle and the Angels and Tampa had Baltimore and Toronto but really without Detroit, I don't think Cleveland is even in the playoff picture.