[ad_1]
CLEVELAND – For the third year in a row, the unmistakable aroma of champagne has floated down the hall outside the visitor's pavilion following the final match at Progressive Field.
On the Cleveland side, the smell was sour.
The Indians were built with one goal in mind: to win their first world series since 1948. Yet, after winning their third consecutive title, they could not pass the first round.
October rejects again.
"We had a good year," said pitcher Trevor Bauer, whose move from the pen spin to the playoffs may best sum up Cleveland's unsatisfactory and incoherent season. "We could certainly have gone further. We had a lot of talent here and it did not work out as planned. "
Nothing happened like Cleveland. But beyond being swept away by the impressive Houston Astros, who were superior at every level, the Indians barely opposed one fight.
The post-season series.
The Indians were so close in 2016, when they took the Chicago Cubs in extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series. At present, they have lost six consecutive playoff games since the introduction of a 2-0 lead in the ALDS against the Yankees last year.
"That's not how we prepared it," says reliever Andrew Miller. "These are 25 or 40 guys who intend to win the World Series. This was obviously not our way. "
In addition to star-stop star star Francisco Lindor, who beat .364 and conceded twice, the Cleveland formation's summit was very embarrassing. Michael Brantley, Jose Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson had a combined score of .095 (4 of 42) with two RBIs, no extra goals and 12 strikeouts.
This is the second consecutive playoff flop for Ramirez, who was a MVP candidate until he faded into the stretch. He is now 2 out of 31 in two playoff games, an alarming trend that he will have to wait at least a year to tackle.
After Monday's defeat, Ramirez had to be persuaded to talk to reporters with Encarnacion before giving him as futile answers as his maneuvers.
"I did not play as I wanted," he told a translator. "But these are things that happen in baseball."
Cleveland's pitching was not much better. Ace Corey Kluber had his second consecutive win in the playoffs. The winner of the 20 matches was not alike in the first match. The bullpen, a disorder that reigned for months, has completely collapsed in the third game. doors for the Houston rout 11-3.
The reasons why the Indians do not leave are many, but the failure of the team to solve the problems of the corrector, started when Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith were not re-signed last winter, figure in the lead list.
As we could not count on Miller, Cody Allen and Co., manager Terry Francona has displaced Bauer, probably the best starter on the team, who was heading for a possible Cy Young when a front line broke leg in August, in a rescue role.
The decision failed, and if it is easy to doubt Francona after the early exit of the Indians, Bauer was not comfortable in his role.
"Too bad I get hit by the drive chain, the flow has been disrupted for me personally," Bauer said. "Personally, a lot of bitterness about it. And as a team, I think we have a good group of key players here so there is a lot of hope for the future. "
In the future, Indians should remain at the top of their division. But that's not enough anymore.
Cleveland will return one of the best baseball staff to Kluber, Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger, the first quartet in baseball history to reach 200 strikeouts each. The market, however, will likely be very different with Miller, Allen and Oliver Perez eligible for free will.
Allen is the team's career leader in backups, but his ERA broke the record of 4.70 (the worst in his career of the season) and his struggles – and his looming free agency – brought the Indian , Francisco Mejia, to recruit the best hope for southpaw Brad Hand. like Cleveland is closer in 2019.
With Lindor and Ramirez under contract until 2021 and Encarnacion and under control until 2020, the core of the Indians remains at the championship level. Brantley, Donaldson, Melky Cabrera, Lonnie Chisenhall and Rajai Davis should all be in the free agent market. Cleveland could therefore have a different look at several positions in '19.
While his teammates shared dark but sincere accolades after Monday's defeat, Brantley stood near his locker room and spoke quietly with Josh Tomlin, the team's oldest player. Tomlin did not do the series lineup and will not come back.
For years, Brantley and Tomlin have represented the hearts and souls of the Indians – two altruistic and dedicated models for the young players on the team.
Brantley's inspiring comeback after a shortened 2017 season could put pressure on the Indians to reconnect with him. He will be 32 in May, but there are not many better players in the game and fewer means that matter to their team than Brantley for the Indians.
When the Indians finally made it to match 3, while Houston's orange supporters outnumbered Cleveland, Brantley turned to his future and the real possibility of leaving.
"I have a lot of thinking to do," he said. "I have to talk to my family. I still have guys in this room with whom to talk. Then we will leave from there. You never know what will happen during the off season. "
For the Indians, this post-season was more predictable.
___
More MLB AP: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
[ad_2]
Source link
