WILD THING, I THINK I LOVE YOU: The Cleveland Indians ended a 5-year playoff drought, qualifying for the Postseason as a “Wild Card” holder for the first time in club history since MLB playoff formats expanded beyond divisional play prior to the 1994 strike-shortened campaign...the 2013 season marked just the 2nd time in 19 seasons (since ‘95 ) for a Wild Card holder to come out of the A.L. Central Division, as Cleveland joined the 2006 Detroit Tigers (Lost World Series to St. Louis, 4-1).
• In just the 2nd season since the amended dual-Wild Card format, Cleveland secured the “One Seed” on the final day of the Tribe’s regular season (Sunday) with a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field...UBALDO JIMENEZ matched a career-high with 13 strikeouts and held the Twins to a single run over 6.2 IP for his 13th win; NICK SWISHER’s 2-run HR in the first inning proved to be the decisive tally.
• The Indians finished the season with a half-game lead over Tampa Bay, the 2nd Wild Card holder, as the Rays defeated Texas 5-2 in tie-breaker Game 163 on Monday night at Rangers Ballpark...Cleveland entered the month of Sept. with a 4.5-game deficit in the A.L. Wild Card race.
TALK OF THE TOWN: The Cleveland Indians finished the 2013 campaign with a record of 92-70 (.568) to earn their first Postseason berth since winning an A.L. Central Division title in 2007, which was also club’s last season to finish above the .500-mark (96-66).
• Tribe’s .568 winning pct. was 4th-highest in the A.L. behind Boston (.599, 97-65), Oakland (.593, 96-66) and Detroit (.574, 93-69) - the 3 respective divisionwinners - and T7th-highest in the Majors.
• 2013 marked Cleveland’s 8th 90-win season since 1995, 18th 90-win season in franchise history...after a 5-10 start to the year from April 2-19, Cleveland went an A.L.-best 87-60 (.592) the rest of the way, good for the 2nd-highest winning pct. in the Majors beginning April 20 behind only St. Louis (.603, 88-58)...the Indians won 10 straight, 15 of 17 (.882 since Sept. 12), 40 of 62 (.645 since July 24) and 62 of their last 99 games (.626 since June 11) to finish the season...Cleveland held a lead at some point in 31 of club’s 70 losses.
IN TITO WE TRUST: Guided by Terry Francona in his first year with the club, Cleveland went 92-70 (.568) after going 68-94 (.420) in 2012...the Indians earned their 69th win on Aug. 21 to surpass last year’s win total...ignoring the impact of strike-shortened seasons in 1981 and 1994, the Tribe’s 24-win increase matched the largest year-to-year improvement in franchise history, which occurred when Cleveland saw a 24-win jump from 1985 (60-102) to 1986 (84-78)...among Divisional Era (Since 1969) managers in their first ever season with a team, that is tied for the 8th-largest such win improvement, although Francona is just the 7th skipper on that list to win at least 90 games in the process of helping his team win at least 24 more games than previous season.
LARGEST WIN IMPROV. IN MGR’s 1st SEASON w/TEAM, SINCE 1969 (excludes strikes & additional terms w/ same team)
• Francona guided a team to at least 90 wins for the 7th time in his career, T2ndmost among active managers with Davey Johnson (retired in ‘13) & Jim Leyland behind Dusty Baker (8).
• With 9 consecutive winning seasons, the longest streak by any active skipper, Tito has notched at least 86 wins in each of those campaigns - good for the 6thlongest streak by any manager in MLB history.
• Has guided his teams to the MLB Postseason on 6 different occasions (including 2013 with the Indians), compiling an all-time winning pct. of .622 (28-17) in the playoffs, which stands as the 2nd-best mark in MLB history (min 25G) behind Joe McCarthy (.698, 30-13).
• Has won all 8 World Series games he has managed, the most wins w/o a loss in the history of the Fall Classic...Has won 7 of 10 playoff series overall.
BIG TEN INCH RECORD: If Cleveland is to advance to the A.L. Division Series against Boston the club will need its 11th consecutive victory to board a flight bound for Fenway Park, as the Indians reeled of 10 consecutive victories to end the season with their longest winning streak since Aug. 17-27, 2008 (10 straight)...Cleveland out-scored opponents 57-24 (5.7 RPG) during that 10-game stretch, batting .293 with 20 2B, 3 3B, 9 HR and 7 steals; hit .316 (30-95) w/ RISP...pitching staff posted 2.30 ERA (23ER/90.0IP) with 120 SO/22 BB...according to research gathered with the help of STATS LLC, Cleveland became just the 6th MLB team in the Modern Era (since 1900) to finish a season with a winning streak of at least 10 games, joining the 1915 White Sox (11), 1937 Pirates (10), 1960 Yankees (15), 1970 Orioles (11) & 1971 Orioles (11).
POSTSEASON HISTORY: The Cleveland Indians are 44-41 (.518) all-time in Postseason games played dating back to their appearance in the 1920 World Series against the Brooklyn Robins (Indians won best-of-nine series 5-2)...Indians have gone 27-16 (.628) at home and 17-25 (.405) on the road...Tribe did not return to the playoff until winning the 1948 World Series vs. the Boston Braves (4-2)...Cleveland also won A.L. Championships before falling in the World Series in 1954 (0-4 vs. New York Giants), 1995 (2-4 vs. Atlanta Braves) & 1997 (3-4 vs. Florida)...the Indians most recent playoff appearance came in 2007 when they advanced to the ALCS before losing to the Boston Red Sox in 7 games.
CLEVELAND ROCKS: Progressive Field, the Indians home in Cleveland since 1994, is set to host her first Postseason game since Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS (Oct. 18), which pitted Cleveland against the Boston Red Sox - who await the winner of tonight’s game in the 2013 ALDS...the Indians are 21-13 (.618) alltime in Postseason games played here at Progressive Field, which stands as the 3rd-highest home winning pct. by any A.L. team in the playoffs since 1994 behind only Detroit (.706, 12-5) and New York-AL (.627, 52-31)...Tribe won 7 of their first 9 playoff games at this park; Indians have won 4 of last 5 and 7 of last 10 at home since 1999 ALDS...Progressive Field (34) is also tied with Fenway Park for hosting the 3rd-most Postseason games of any ballpark in the Majors since 1994 behind Old Yankee Stadium (63) & the Braves’ Turner Field (36).
ALL-TIME OFFENSE IN POSTSEASON GAMES PLAYED AT PROGRESSIVE FIELD (1994-Present)
TEAM RPG (R/G) AVG (H-AB) 2B 3B HR OPS (OBP/SLG) SBCLE: 5.4 (183/34) .250 (291-1162) 62 7 46 .779 (.344/.435) 36OPP: 4.3 (147/34) .241 (288/1195) 52 1 42 .711 (.319/.392) 29
INDIANS POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE: Cleveland’s 25-man A.L. Wild Card roster, announced earlier this morning, includes a number of players who have previously appeared in Postseason play, including: • NICK SWISHER (46G)...2006 (OAK: ALDS, ALCS), 2008 (CWS: ALDS), 2009 (NYY: ALDS, ALCS, WS), 2010 (NYY: ALDS, ALCS), 2011 (NYY: ALDS), 2012 (NYY: ALDS, ALCS). • JASON GIAMBI (45G)...2000 (OAK: ALDS), 2001 (OAK: ALDS), 2002 (NYY: ALDS), 2003 (NYY: ALDS, ALCS, WS), 2005 (NYY: ALDS), 2006 (NYY: ALDS), 2007 (NYY: ALDS), 2009 (COL: NLDS). • MARC RZEPCZYNSKI (17G)...2011 (StL: NLDS, NLCS, WS), 2012 (StL: WC, NLDS, NLCS). • ASDRUBAL CABRERA (11G)...2007 (CLE: ALDS, ALCS). • JUSTIN MASTERSON (9G)...2008 (BOS: ALDS, ALCS). • RYAN RABURN (9G)...2011 (DET: ALDS, ALCS). • SCOTT KAZMIR (8G/7GS)...2008 (TB: ALDS, ALCS, WS), 2009 (LAA: ALDS, ALCS). • DREW STUBBS (8G)...2010 (CIN: NLDS), 2012 (CIN: NLDS). • UBALDO JIMENEZ (5G/5GS)...2007 (COL: NLDS, NLCS, WS), 2009 (COL: NLDS). • BRYAN SHAW (4G)...2011 (ARI: NLDS). • MICHAEL BOURN (3G)...2007 (PHI: NLDS), 2012 (ATL: WC). • RICH HILL (1G/1GS)...2007 (ChC: NLDS).
Among current Indians, Swisher (46G) narrowly edges Giambi (45G) for most playoff games played, as Nick has now appeared in 6 straight and 7 of the last 8 Postseasons...Giambi leads all current Indians with 7 PS home runs, ahead of Swisher (4), Raburn (2) and Cabrera (1)...Jason’s 19 Postseason RBI are also most on the team....Kazmir, Masterson and Rzepczynski (one each) are only Tribe hurlers to record a PS win...Bourn and Rzepczynski (2012) are the only current Indians who participated in a Wild Card play-in game last season under the new Postseason format.
VS. TAMPA BAY: The Indians and Rays are set to square off for the first time ever in Postseason play...Tampa Bay held a 4-2 edge in the 2013 regular season series, taking 2 of 3 at both Progressive Field and Tropicana Field...Cleveland was shut out on the road in the first 2 games of that series with RHP Alex Cobb, tonight’s opposing starter, earning the win in the latter tilt...the 2 clubs played through unique circumstances in a May 31 contest here in Cleveland, as the 4-hour, 49-min. game ended at 2:53AM ET (9-2 Rays win)...the Indians have an all-time record of 75-50 (.605) against the Rays (1998-present), going 43-20 (.694) at Progressive Field and 32-30 at Tropicana Field.
MISC: Former Tribe slugger Andre Thornton, a four-time All-Star & Indians Hall of Famer, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game...tonight’s match-up features a pair of starters (Salazar/Cobb) making their first career Postseason appearances.
THIS DAY IN MUSIC: 1995: Oasis released their album “What’s The Story (Morning Glory)”...1998: Country legend Gene Autry passed away at 91.
