Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians are a Major League Baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They currently are in the Central Division of the American League.

1994 and Beyond: A New Beginning

Indians General Manager, John Hart and team owner, Dick Jacobs, finally found the light at the end of the tunnel. In what seems to have been a case of life imitating art, the 1994 Cleveland Indians re-discovered their winning ways of the 40's and 50's; The 1989 motion picture, Major League, featured the Indians as a worst-to-first story: the 1993 Indians ended their era at Cleveland Municipal Stadium,76-86, which was last in the American League East Division. The team opened the 1994 season with a new stadium, Jacobs Field, and with it came the success and the spirits of their movie counterparts. The 1994 MLB Season ended prematurely, with a Players Union strike; on the day the strike began, the Indians were one game behind the Chicago White Sox -- their newly-formed AL Central rivals-- with 49 left to be played.

Related Topics:
John Hart - Dick Jacobs - 1989 - Major League - Cleveland Municipal Stadium - 1994 - Jacobs Field - Players Union - Chicago White Sox

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The strike, which extended into the 1995 season, hardly dampened the teams newly found success. Without losing a step, the 1995 Indians went 100-44 in a shortened season. The team went on to defeat the Boston Red Sox in the Divisonal Series; and the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS, reaching the World Series for their first time since 1954. ALthough the Tribe went on to lose to the World Series 4 games to 2 against theAtlanta Braves, 1995 was still a remarkable year for the Indians; besides winning 100 games, they also led the Majors in batting average, and led the AL in team ERA (earned run averge).

Related Topics:
1995 - Seattle Mariners - ALCS - Atlanta Braves - Majors - Batting average - AL - ERA

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The Tribe took the AL Central Crown again in 1996, but lost to the Baltimore Orioles (3 games to 1) in the Divsional Series. In 1997 the Tribe started lukewarm, but finished the regular season hot. Taking their third consecutive AL Central title, the Tribe shocked the baseball world by beating the heavily-favored New York Yankees in the Divisional Series (3-2). After getting payback for 1996 against the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS, the Tribe went on to finish a bittersweet season against the Florida Marlins. In a dramatic series, which featured (among other oddities) one of the coldest games in World Series history, Indians fans were reminded that the Curse of Rocky Colavito was not, in fact, dead: with the Indians in the lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7, the Marlins managed to tie the game. Relief Pitcher, Jose Mesa, who is largely blamed by Tribe fans for the loss, gave up the run. The Marlins went on to clinch the title in the bottom of the eleventh, with Edgar Renteria driving the game winning RBI just past the glove of leaping Indians Second Baseman, Tony Fernandez. In his 2002 autobiography, The Indians' legendary Shortstop, Omar Vizquel, blames Mesa directly for the loss.

Related Topics:
Baltimore Orioles - 1997 - New York Yankees - Florida Marlins - Jose Mesa - Edgar Renteria - Tony Fernandez - Omar Vizquel

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In 1998, The Indians fell short of returning to the World Series for a third time in four season's, being beaten by the New York Yankees in the ALCS. In 1999, the Divisonal Series was the stage for one of the biggest collapses in MLB Post Seasons; The Indians, who were in command with a 2 games to none lead going into game 3, gave up three consecutive games to the Boston Red Sox. The debacle cost Indians Manageer Mike Hargrove his job.

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In 2000, the Indians got off to a mediocre start, going 44-42 at the break. They soon caught fire and went 46-30 the rest of the way to finish 90-72. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as they ended up 5 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the Central division and missed the wild card by one game to the Seattle Mariners.

Related Topics:
2000 - Chicago White Sox - Wild card - Seattle Mariners

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2001 saw a return to prominence for the Indians. After losing Manny Ramirez and Sandy Alomar Jr. to free agency, the Tribe signed former-MVP Juan Gonzalez, who arguably had one his best years in 2001, and reclaimed the Central division with a 91-71 record. The playoff run was short lived, however, as they were eliminated in the first round by the juggernaut Mariners.

Related Topics:
2001 - Manny Ramirez - Sandy Alomar Jr. - MVP - Juan Gonzalez

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In the 2001 offseason, GM John Hart resigned and his assistant Mark Shapiro took the reins. Shapiro decided that the Indians team was aging, and needed to be rebuilt with young minor-league talent. This sent Cleveland fans in an uproar, as Shapiro traded fan favorite pitching ace Bartolo Colon for then-unknowns Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, and Grady Sizemore, and the Indians struggled through 2002 and 2003, posting losing records both years.

Related Topics:
John Hart - Mark Shapiro - Bartolo Colon - Brandon Phillips - Cliff Lee - Grady Sizemore - 2002 - 2003

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In 2004, the young talent finally started to hit it's stride, and the Indians were a terrific offensive team. Unfortunately, the bullpen was a major achilles heel. They blew over 20 saves that year, and the Indians finished with an 80-82 record.

Related Topics:
2004 - Bullpen

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Beginning 2005, the offense was shockingly anemic. The Indians couldn't score runs the way they did the year before. However, the offense soon picked up, and the Indians began a 9-game winning streak in mid-June, going over .500 for good. After a brief July slump, the Indians caught fire in August, and they cut a 15.5 game deficit in the Central division to the White Sox down to 1.5 games. However, the season came to a heartbreaking end as the Indians went on to lose six of their last seven games, five of them by one run, and missed the playoffs.

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