MLB Week in Review (October 14-20)
One-half of the World Series has been figured out as the American League has determined their champion for the season.
The Cleveland Indians have earned their spot in the World Series after beating the Toronto Blue Jays in five games.
The ALCS was an interesting series when it started as the Blue Jays were playing better than they had all year as their offence was coming together at the right time.
The Jays were playing great baseball as their potent offence was finally starting to come through in the most important games.
The Indians weren’t doing too bad themselves as their pitching staff from starters to the bullpen was looking great.
Their offence remained a bit of a question but with pitchers like Andrew Miller shutting teams down they didn’t need that explosive an offence.
Both the Indians and the Blue Jays had swept their ALDS opponents despite what many thought would happen and they were set to face-off.
The Blue Jays then cooled off entirely and the Indians pitchers took over as they quickly got ahead and took over the series.
The Jays seemed to have nothing left and despite one good game they couldn’t produce leaving them short of the World Series for the second year in a row.
The Indians are now in the World Series and their inclusion in the World Series could be one of the greatest sports stories of the year.
The Indians will have to take on a very tough team regardless of who wins between the Cubs and Dodgers but playing the way they are playing there is a chance that they could take the championship.
A World Series title from the Indians would break the second-longest World Series drought, 67 years, in the MLB with only their potential opponents, the Cubs, having a longer wait, 107 years.
The Indians could break that streak and become the latest team to surprise everyone with their championship.
What could be bigger is the fact that the Indians could add to a now stacked trophy case of a city that was always considered one of the worst sports cities in North America.
Cleveland has consistently been the butt of jokes for years as they had some terrible teams including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indians, and Browns.
All were without championships for a long time in every league and it didn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
Then last year their American League Hockey team the Cleveland Monsters won the Calder Trophy.
That was followed up by a local boy, Stipe Miocic, winning the UFC heavyweight championship.
The big one followed each of these as Ohio native LeBron James led the Cavaliers to their first title since they were founded in 1970.
Oddly enough that championship went through Toronto as the Cavs beat the Toronto Raptors to make the NBA Finals.
Now the Indians are in the World Series, taking their own path through Toronto, to make this the greatest sports year that their city has ever seen.
It has been a long time since Cleveland was on top of anything as the last champions before the Cavs last season was the Browns in 1964 and now they are four wins away from having an NBA title, UFC Championships, AHL title, and World Series title all within the same year.
It could be a big year for a city that was never near the top of anyone’s list of great sports towns.
Then again the Indians will need to go through one of the two teams left in the fight as the Cubs and the Dodgers continue to fight.
Neither are easy outs with the winner of the NLCS likely becoming the World Series favourites this year.
To make this year in sports for Cleveland one to remember they will need to defy the odds and take home their first World Series in 67 years.
Extra Innings
(More on this week in baseball)
Dominant MVP
The Blue Jays knew they had to get on the Indians early throughout the ALCS because once Andrew Miller came in the offence was essentially shut down and the Jays couldn’t do that proving just how dominant the ALCS MVP was throughout the series
A New Draft
The MLB is looking for a new way to bring more international talent without going through the bidding wars and their solution is the International Draft which they want to establish as a part of the new CBA to allow more teams to bring in talent from more countries
New Home
The Arizona Diamondbacks had a very disappointing season with plenty of hype surrounding them but they couldn’t find the postseason and so they are making changes including bringing in Boston’s GM Mike Hazen as their new GM and VP of Baseball Operations
The Sport Addiction 