Tribe Keep On Rolling

What are they putting in the cups in Cleveland. You want to talk about a hot baseball team, it get no hotter then the Cleveland Indians! After last nights 5-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland has now set an American League Record by winning 21 straight baseball games. There have been streaks in the past in baseball, sure. There have been short ones and long ones. But none have captured the imagination like the one the Indians have gone on is some time.

The last time we saw a winning streak of this length in baseball came in 2002, when the Oakland A's won 20 straight games. This years Tribe just passed that team for the longest winning streak in American League history, and it has now marked only the 4th time in history that a team has won 21 or more games in a row. The Indians tied the 1935 Chicago Cubs and the 1880 Chicago White Stockings with their 21st straight win, setting them now five behind the 1918 New York Giants who won 26 straight. It should be noted that the 1880 White Stockings and the 1918 Giants streaks included unofficial ties, which is what leads one to wonder the validity of those streaks.

But still, the fact that the Indians have won 21 straight games is amazing. Nobody has been able to beat the tribe since the Boston Red Sox did so on August 23rd, a 6-1 win for Boston. There's been quite a few eye popping stats that have come abound with this streak that the Tribe are on. Cleveland has actually hit more home runs during this win streak then they've allowed runs. Yes you read that correctly. Over the last three weeks, Cleveland has hit 41 home runs, while allowing just 35 runs. Crazy, right? Oh but wait, the numbers are going to get crazier. During this streak, they have played 189 total innings, and have trailed in just four of them., during which time, Cleveland has scored 139 runs to the mentioned 35 runs they've allowed. During this run, Cleveland pitchers have thrown seven shutouts, blanking Kansas City three times, Baltimore once and Detroit four times. And when the streak started, they gave up six runs to Boston, in a 13-6 Cleveland win. Since then, nobody has scored more then four runs.

Francisco Lindor has been on a tear for the last month, hitting 11 homers and driving in 23 runs, all while hitting .314. And it's coming at the right time, because you want your best players playing like your best players at the right time of the year. Looking back a little at the 2002 A's, who this team has been compared. In 2002, Oakland finished that year with 103 wins, but bowed out to the Minnesota Twins in five games in the Divisional Round. I can't see that happening here with the Tribe. You gotta remember that this is a team who ALMOST pulled it off beating the Cubs last year in the fall classic, forcing the seventh game into extra innings before bowing to the champs. The way Cleveland is playing right now, who knows what could happen with this team

They have been playing out of their minds over the last three weeks, extending the lead over the 2nd place Minnesota Twins to 13.5 games. Cleveland has managed to shrink its magic number down to just 4 in order to wrap up the division! Savor this moment Indians fans, because its just a small sampling of things to come later this season!