The Cleveland Indians will not be making a return trip to the postseason, officially eliminated on Friday with the Athletics' 6-2 win in Texas.
Cleveland (84-76) staved off elimination earlier Friday with a 1-0 win over the Rays, but can no longer catch Oakland (87-73) in the wild card standings.
In many ways, the 2014 Indians were a lot like the 2013 Indians, only without the insane finish. Last year, Cleveland won their final 10 games and 17 of their final 19 regular season games to capture one of the American League Wild Card spots.
This year's Indians squad had a more pedestrian September at 13-12, finishing behind the Tigers and Royals in the American League Central.
The future in Cleveland seems bright, with the offensive quartet of first baseman Carlos Santana, third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, left fielder Michael Brantley and catcher Yan Gomes all having fine seasons in 2014, and will be between ages 26-29 in 2015.
But the real bright spot the Indians can hang their future hats on is the emergence of ace Corey Kluber, who came into his own at age 28, going 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA plus 269 strikeouts in 236 innings, setting career highs across the board.
Kluber was joined in the rotation in August by 27-year-old Carlos Carrasco, who along with 23-year-old Trevor Bauer and 24-year-old Danny Salazar provide a fireballing quartet for Cleveland going forward, one that propelled the Indians rotation to a 3.01 ERA in 66 games since the All-Star break.
from SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/YnlzNY
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