3 vs. Tampa

3 vs. Texas

3 vs. Baltimore

4 @ Tampa

3 @ Toronto

3 vs. Detroit

3 @ Minnesota

3 @ Detroit

3 vs. Minnesota

3 vs. Oakland

3 vs. KC

3 @ Sox

4 @ KC

3 vs. Tampa

3 @ Sox

 

Whoa...ten against the D-Rays? 7 against the Royals? 15 more against the scuffling Orioles, Tigers and Twins? The only playoff bound teams are Oakland, who they have at home, and us.

 

Wow, they could go on a serious roll here...maybe this division isn't as secure as we thought...

 

EDIT: sorry, slightly off...forgot one royals game

Edited August 12, 200520 yr by Greg Hibbard

I'm sure you'll get bashed for this, but I completely agree with your post. The Indians are swinging the bats great right now, and their bullpen isn't blowing games left and right like they did last season. If they're able to win 80 pct of their games against Tampa and KC the rest of the way, they could definitely make a substantial run at our division lead.

Wow, I had no idea that Tampa was 15-11 since the All Star Break. Hopefully they can play like that vs. the Tribe....but they've also lost four straight...

I'm sure you'll get bashed for this, but I completely agree with your post.  The Indians are swinging the bats great right now, and their bullpen isn't blowing games left and right like they did last season.  If they're able to win 80 pct of their games against Tampa and KC the rest of the way, they could definitely make a substantial run at our division lead.

 

Remember when Cleveland had that great run about a month ago where they won like 10 straight and gained about 2 games? They looked good then, too. But, they suddenly went into the crapper and fell far out again. I suspect they'll do the same here.

Wow, I had no idea that Tampa was 15-11 since the All Star Break. Hopefully they can play like that vs. the Tribe....but they've also lost four straight...

K.C. is also bad, but they're not "13 game losing streak" bad. They can still win games every now and again.

 

The Indians have a shot at the wild card, but right now they're 11 games over .500. We're 35 games over .500. If we play .500 ball the rest of the season, they need to go 35-12 to tie us.

Remember when Cleveland had that great run about a month ago where they won like 10 straight and gained about 2 games?  They looked good then, too.  But, they suddenly went into the crapper and fell far out again.  I suspect they'll do the same here.

Cleveland is just like we were last year, just like the Cubs and Yankees are this year.

 

When their offense starts to click, they catch fire and look unbeatable. But then a couple bats quiet down, the rest of the team starts pushing to make up for them, and then they discover that they don't have the pitching to hang with people.

 

It's a recipe for the wild card maybe if you're really good at it, but it's not going to win them 100 games. You just can't keep bats hot for that long.

Remember when Cleveland had that great run about a month ago where they won like 10 straight and gained about 2 games?  They looked good then, too.  But, they suddenly went into the crapper and fell far out again.  I suspect they'll do the same here.

 

They only lost 2 series from June 7th through the all star break, and one was getting swept vs. the Red Sox and the other was losing 3 of 4 at NYY.

Not sure they can catch us but that's also why this ain't over and why this is still the biggest part of our schedule right now. If we can come out of August still with a double digit lead we'll be alright but if we let it slip to 5 or 6 we're in a dogfight til the end with no chance to rest up and prepare for the playoffs.

 

It's also why the the Tribe should be considered contenders for the WC.

My point is this - we lose 3 or 4 games on them in August and suddenly they're only 8 or 9 back with 6 games left to play against us and a MUCH, MUCH easier schedule otherwise...

My point is this -  we lose 3 or 4 games on them in August and suddenly they're only 8 or 9 back with 6 games left to play against us and a MUCH, MUCH easier schedule otherwise...

 

What's our record against Cleveland this year? Like 10-3? I'm not too scared of having to play them.

Not sure they can catch us but that's also why this ain't over and why this is still the biggest part of our schedule right now. If we can come out of August still with a double digit lead we'll be alright but if we let it slip to 5 or 6 we're in a dogfight til the end with no chance to rest up and prepare for the playoffs.

 

 

 

When I say this, I get bashed cause I'm the board pessimist. However, it's exactly the point I've been trying to make, and everyone planning the postseason roster and when to start benching starters is getting a little ahead of themselves. One good thing is that the A's and Angels have a lot more games against each other this season, so it would make the wild card lead even more for the Sox (in the extreme circumstance that the Indians were to catch the White Sox).

When I say this, I get bashed cause I'm the board pessimist.  However, it's exactly the point I've been trying to make, and everyone planning the postseason roster and when to start benching starters is getting a little ahead of themselves.  One good thing is that the A's and Angels have a lot more games against each other this season, so it would make the wild card lead even more for the Sox (in the extreme circumstance that the Indians were to catch the White Sox).

 

Please, if you're the board pessimist, then I'm the vice-pessimist. And not even I am threatened by the Indians anymore.

Here's the thing though -

 

Cleveland's record against playoff contenders (NYY, Bos, Chi, Oak, LAA) - 15-25

Cleveland's record against all other teams - 48-27 (.640 clip)

 

They play all the other teams 38 out of 47 games.

 

.640 * 38 = 24 wins, 14 losses

.375 * 9 = 4 wins, 5 losses (rounding up one win)

 

28 wins + 63 wins currently = 91 wins.

 

Not to be beating math to death in this thread, but that's kinda scary.

When I say this, I get bashed cause I'm the board pessimist.  However, it's exactly the point I've been trying to make, and everyone planning the postseason roster and when to start benching starters is getting a little ahead of themselves.  One good thing is that the A's and Angels have a lot more games against each other this season, so it would make the wild card lead even more for the Sox (in the extreme circumstance that the Indians were to catch the White Sox).

i'm sorry, but the indians are not going to catch us.

Take a breather and enjoy this, for once we don't have someone breathing down our necks.

Please, if you're the board pessimist, then I'm the vice-pessimist.  And not even I am threatened by the Indians anymore.

 

Fair enough. Please refer to me as Mr. Pessimist, thanks Anyways, wouldn't it be nice to see the Indians lose a game or two, especially when down 5 runs late in the game?

Here's the thing though -

 

Cleveland's record against playoff contenders (NYY, Bos, Chi, Oak, LAA) - 15-25

Cleveland's record against all other teams - 48-27 (.640 clip)

 

They play all the other teams 38 out of 47 games.

 

.640 * 38 = 24 wins, 14 losses

.375 * 9  = 4 wins, 5 losses (rounding up one win)

 

28 wins + 63 wins currently = 91 wins.

 

Not to be beating math to death in this thread, but that's kinda scary.

 

Which means we would have to go 17-32 for the Indians to catch us. That isn't really that scary.

Fair enough.  Please refer to me as Mr. Pessimist, thanks Anyways, wouldn't it be nice to see the Indians lose a game or two, especially when down 5 runs late in the game?

 

Don't worry, they'll have their nice little slide and you'll feel all better.

Which means we would have to go 17-32 for the Indians to catch us.  That isn't really that scary.

 

True, I just found it surprising that it seems LIKELY that they'll win 90 games...

Which means we would have to go 17-32 for the Indians to catch us.  That isn't really that scary.

 

If we go 17-32 the rest of the way, we don't deserve to make it. I'm actually happy that we don't play the Indians until the end of the season. The clearest way they could make a serious run at the Sox is if they were to sweep the Sox in a series, etc.

Couple of things. One, beating their ass four straight out of the allstar break looks pretty big right now. Two, and this is amazing to me, the Indians are 15-3 against the National League this year. In other words, they owe their contender status to the other league.

The Sox aren't gonna be bad enough to let anyone catch them. We haven't had anything close to a 17-32 extended period of suckiness for me to think it could ever happen.

 

I also don't like calling it "RIDICULOUSLY EASY" since we play basically the same schedule they do over the course of a season. Notice also how we have a ton of games with Minnesota maybe partly because everyone complained that Minnesota always had a "RIDCULOUSLY EASY" schedule at the ends of previous seasons.

Couple of things. One, beating their ass four straight out of the allstar break looks pretty big right now. Two, and this is amazing to me, the Indians are 15-3 against the National League this year. In other words, they owe their contender status to the other league.

They went on a 9 game winning streak through San Francisco, Arizona, and Colorado, in June - one of those months where no team in that division had a good record. Although we didn't look too good against Arizona, both teams also took 2/3 from San Diego, and both of us swept Colorado. We didn't play San Fran - we drew the Dodgers instead.

 

The Sox were 9-3 against the NL West, the Indians were 11-1. Both of those are very good...we just had 2 embarassing games against Arizona and a blown save in San Diego.

 

But here's the real kicker...in the "Rivalry" series, the Cubs and Sox split 6 games evenly.

 

Cleveland got to play the Reds. They went 4-2. You pick who had the harder matchup there.

 

I'd much rather play the Reds than

The Indians would probably be about 20 games over .500 if it weren't for us. You're welcome wild card teams.

Edited August 12, 200520 yr by 3E8

Which means we would have to go 17-32 for the Indians to catch us.  That isn't really that scary.

I'll take those chances...

They went on a 9 game winning streak through San Francisco, Arizona, and Colorado, in June - one of those months where no team in that division had a good record.  Although we didn't look too good against Arizona, both teams also took 2/3 from San Diego, and both of us swept Colorado.  We didn't play San Fran - we drew the Dodgers instead.

 

The Sox were 9-3 against the NL West, the Indians were 11-1.  Both of those are very good...we just had 2 embarassing games against Arizona and a blown save in San Diego.

 

But here's the real kicker...in the "Rivalry" series, the Cubs and Sox split 6 games evenly.

 

Cleveland got to play the Reds.  They went 4-2.  You pick who had the harder matchup there.

 

I'd much rather play the Reds than

 

A little "variable", if you will, to throw into this equation, is that Cleveland got Colorado in Cleveland, whereas we faced them in Colorado.

 

Colorado, thus far, has been swept at home once this year. Guess who