The Cleveland Indians haven’t won the Series in 68 years, while the Cubbies haven’t won it since 1908. Despite Chicago not haven’t flown the “W” on the last day of the season for over a century, it’s not much of a surprise seeing the Cubbies in the 2016 WS. On the American League side, Cleveland was known to be a good team, and possibly make the postseason, but was unlikely to make it this far.
The Tribe won 94 regular season games and have gone 7-1 thus far in the postseason, leaning on the heroics of unexpected breakout seasons from a few of their players. With their all-star left fielder, Michael Brantley, out basically the entire year, and pitching injuries, the team has leaned on the brilliance of manager, Terry Francona, as well.
Chicago has had an historically exuberant 2016 campaign that has excited the city of Chicago. A team that won 103 games, dominated the NL Central, had a pitching staff post a terrific ERA of 2.96 (also accounted for 79% of team wins), and have two players that may finish 1 and 2 in the NL MVP race. Lastly, Joe Maddon, the manager, is just a baseball genius.
However, the postseason is a whole new ball game.
The Cleveland Indians just cruised to capture the AL Pennant.
The Chicago Cubs came out and took the first two postseason games at Wrigley Field, but struggled in San Fran, however, not enough to lose the NLDS. Then the LA Dodgers took a 2-1 game lead in the NLCS after two shutouts in a row of the resilient Cubs. However, the Cubs fought back by pounding the kid Urias, then having Lester bring them back home where history was made on a night when the statement “it’s hard not to be romantic about baseball” showed it’s truth.
The Cleveland Indians faced two high powered offenses in Boston and Toronto on their way to the World Series, which resulted in a team ERA of 1.91 following their ace and Andrew Miller (ALCS MVP). Many thought that without Carrasco and Salazar, Kluber would have to be a hero because Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin may not be able to get to that next level, but they did. There are now rumors surfacing of Danny Salazar potentially starting game 4 if he does well in his simulated game; that would be a vital help for the Tribe to claim the title. Yes, the Indians dominated the AL playoffs, but not with their bats. As a team they are batting .208 thus far in the playoffs. Mostly due to Kipnis, Napoli, and Ramirez not bringing their regular season lumber. This is a concern considering they faced good, not great pitching staffs in Boston and Toronto; the Cubs have 4 shutdown starters. However, the Cubbies’ offense has also shown signs of struggle so far in October.
The Chicago Cubs defeated two of the best pitchers in the game today to claim both the NLDS and NLCS in Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw. As the world saw in games 4, 5, and 6, the kids in the Cubs’ lineup can certainly open the flood gates of scoring if need be. The Cubs’ starters have been as advertised, but their bullpen has allowed 14 earned runs thus far in the postseason. Like their opponent, Chicago has had two breakout stars that have lifted them to the Series in Jon Lester and Javier Baez.
This matchup could be decided on the battle of starting rotations. Home field advantage is huge in this matchup as both teams are dominate at home, so winning on the road could mean a championship; Cleveland has home field advantage. Both managers are future Hall of Famers, and both have faced each other multiple times when they were in the AL East, but Terrry Francona has 2 rings. With all the injuries Cleveland dealt with and making it this far to play a Chicago team that has performed up to expectations, many are probably thinking Chicago has got it; it’s destiny after all. However, the inconsistency of the Cubs in the postseason thus far has made them look less than what they were in the regular season. The Indians on the other hand, dominated the AL playoffs, but without their offense, which is in large part the reason for their success. Dominated without all they had vs going from best team all year to question marks in the postseason, but have shown flashes of that dominance when needing to win. This should be a World Series for the ages.
My prediction will be posted on Tuesday Morning and also on twitter.
