I always feel confident about the Cleveland Indians.
Before each new sports season, I always have a ridiculous optimism—Browns, Cavs, Indians—whatever. But with the Indians it is a little different. Regardless of how poor the prior season may have been or whom we may have traded, I maintain a genuine excitement and anticipation.
The reason stems from middle school. I became a cognizant, diehard sports fan in the mid-90s. From my fourth grade year until I was a junior in high school, the Indians were a contender. During that same span of time, the Cleveland Browns moved and the Cavs should have moved. The spotlight was on the Tribe, and the team delivered.
When you take a snapshot since my fourth grade year, which is when you can start counting stuff like "I've been a fan of [fill in thing] for this many years," the Indians have finished .500 or better 11 times out of a possible 16 years. The way I see it, for my sports fan lifetime, the Indians have been relevant nearly 70 percent of the time. The Browns, on the other hand, are batting .125 and the Cavs have only had seven years I would call relevant. Even though the Cavs are clearly the best organization now, during the important junior high to high school years, they were borderline unwatchable. The Indians, as a result, are just closer to my core—more a part of who I am. I am more apt to make excuses for them and more likely to see potential. It's like having a brother that keeps breaking the law. I believe it when he says he's going to change, and I give him more chances to prove it.
Thus, coming off a minor drug possession charge in '08 and some jail time on '09, the Tribe is telling me it's on the road to recovery, and in 2010, we'll have some growing pains, but I'll see they are getting better. And I believe them, so much so that I think they have the potential for 80 wins this year. I do. For real.
By comparison, most older generations of Indians fans suffered through pitiful baseball. It was like that late-'90s stretch from the Cavs times 100. In the four decades before '94, The Indians finished .500 or better 10 times. None of those seasons included any sort of post-season play. The people that lived through any portion of those years, not to mention all of the failures of our other two bumbling teams, are your more prototypical Cleveland fans. The Indians hold no special place whatsoever. They traded another all-star? Typical. What a bunch of losers. They'll never win a title this way. Currently, these people hate the Indians and in no way believe they are going to be good this year (or any year, really).
And maybe those people are right. But I'm not sure either of us are right. I think we're both slaves to our perspectives. In my mind, the Indians are always a couple prospects away from reaching the post season, as evidenced by that continually happening during my tenure as a fan. And of course, that's always an allure baseball has over other sports—farm teams and prospects.
Say what you want about the Dolans and Shapiro, but they deliver on the prospect promise. Obviously the good years aren't as constant as they were under Dick Jacobs and John Hart, but this regime's results back up my belief that if I wait for the development of some top shelf prospects, they will come up to Cleveland and play exciting baseball. A championship? Maybe not, but that can't be the expectation in baseball, and that especially can't be an expectation with a Cleveland team. But the Indians consistently have given me contending or relevant teams.
This promise does not exist for the other teams. Even the Cavs, the superior team at the moment, hang by the LeBron thread. Pull that thread out this summer and the entire thing unravels, leaving us with Lamond Murray and Wesley Person again. The Cavs got lucky with LeBron, and it altered that team's potential, but if he leaves, that team returns from whence it came. In baseball, you have to work with tiers of players for years and years. There is no magic pill that makes it all better. And, from my tiny snapshot of Indians history, the team has always done this, unlike teams like the Royals or Pirates or Reds. This just sets the Indians apart.
I tell you this because despite last year's gigantic turd of a season, and despite the unproven commodities on the roster, I am excited for the Tribe. I even bet a co-worker that they would win 78 games. Seventy-eight games isn't great, but it would be great considering the current stage of the developmental process. However, most folks say they'll finish with about 60-some wins. And really, I'm not even convinced I'm right. But my reasoning rests on that aforementioned optimistic Tribe perspective. LaPorta, Brantley, Choo, Sizemore, Santana.... I can just rattle off names of guys that excite me for various reasons. They are names that support the yearly promise the Tribe provides me—the seedlings of contention. We traded Lee, Martinez and CC the last couple of years? Well, we'll just develop other Lees, CCs and Martinezes. The Indians have developed my faith over the years much like they did Sizemore or Jake Westbrook.
It's not a justifiable reason for belief, but until the Indians start to consistently field losing teams, and until the prospects I read about and anticipate quit delivering—like used to be commonplace during the '60s, '70s and '80s—I will maintain the same outlook. Trading off the prospects after seven years isn't going to bring me to Negative Town like a majority of other Cleveland fans; however, if we quit having guys worth trading, I'll start looking for available real estate there.
But that's a potential reality for another time. Right now? I say 78 wins—a positive 78 wins that lead to better seasons down the road. Yup, from my perspective, we're in good shape.
Go Tribe.
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