Chapin: Indians’ season has ups, downs

In early August, Cleveland Indians fans had on their minds an upcoming four-game series at Progressive Field against the Detroit Tigers.

The Tribe had just won 10 of 11 games, including an eight-game winning streak, and had pulled within three games of the Tigers in the American League Central Division and actually held the second wild-card spot in the league.

Fans on message boards and call-in shows sort of agreed that a split of the four games would be OK, though there was hope they could win three games. Nobody mentioned a sweep, but ...

Of course that’s what happened, except the sweep was completed by the Tigers. The Indians proceeded to lose their next two games and on Sunday morning, Aug. 11, they stood eight games behind Detroit and four games out of the second wild-card position.

As flawed as this version of the Indians is, one must also say this team doesn’t quit. With cluhouse presences like Jason Giambi and Nick Swisher, plus the leadership of manager Terry Francona, the Indians shook off the six-game losing streak and won nine of their next 13 games.

That pulled Cleveland to within 5 Ω games of the Tigers and within two games of the second wild-card spot. With 32 games remaining, making the playoffs still seemed a possibility. But …

Looming on the schedule was a nine-game stretch which included three games at Atlanta, three at Detroit and three at home against Baltimore. Once again Indians fans debated how many wins during that difficult stretch would be “acceptable.” The consensus seemed to be that four wins would be enough to keep the Tribe in the race, though it was hoped that five wins might be possible.

Well, we’ve all seen what happened the last nine days. The stretch began with five losses in a row and Cleveland ended the nine games with just three in the win column.

Once again it seems it is “wait for next year” for Tribe fans. But …

A look at the remaining games on the schedule provides some hope. Beginning Friday, Cleveland plays the following series: Mets (home, 3 games), Royals (H, 3), White Sox (A, 4), Royals (A, 3), Astros (H, 4), White Sox (H, 2) and Twins (A, 4).

With Detroit almost a sure bet for the Central Division, Tribe fans should focus on the wild-card race where the other contenders, Tampa Bay, Oakland or Texas, Baltimore, New York and Kansas City, have been just as streaky and are just as flawed as the Indians.

Some critics might say the Indians have no business being in the playoffs considering their performance against superior opponents. And even with a schedule of weak opponents the Indians still might not be good enough to make it.

But playoffs or not, it seems playing meaningful games in September should be a good thing for a relatively young team that at the start of the season seemed as if it was building for 2014.

Write Vindicator sports writer Doug Chapin at dchapin@vindy.com.