2017 Cleveland Indians: A team the city can rally behind

With the MLB season just over a month away, the Cleveland Indians seem to possess more talent than in 2016. But will that get fans to Progressive Field?

The Cleveland Indians are currently in a place where they haven’t been in a long time.  Despite the high preseason praise over the past decade, performance on the field has failed to meet the expectations of not only ownership, but the fans as well.

That all changed last season, with the Indians winning 94 games on the way to their first Central division title in nine years.

The Indians continued their dominance in the playoffs, winning 10 of their first 12 games en route to an American League pennant, standing only one win away from a World Series Title.

However the wins stopped there, as the Indians lost their final three games to the Chicago Cubs, giving the Cubs their first World Series title since 1908.

Despite all of that success during the 2016 season, the Cleveland Indians still couldn’t put fans in the seats.  It is time for these same fans to realize how good this team actually is.

In the past 20 years, the Indians have reached 94-plus wins only three times (1999, 2007, 2016). Not only have regular season wins been a rarity, this 2016 squad was the only Indians team to achieve postseason success in the last decade.

You would have to flashback to 2007, where the Cleveland Indians were one win away from a World Series appearance. After the Indians held a 3-1 ALCS lead, the Boston Red Sox managed to rattle off three straight wins, taking the series 4-3.

With last season’s demise behind them, the Indians look to repeat their 2016 postseason success, perhaps winning just one more game along the way.  With key offseason additions Edwin Encarnacion, Boone Logan and MLB roster hopeful Chris Colabello, the Tribe are in line for another successful year.

The offseason additions will be beneficial for the Tribe, but the Indians weren’t exactly the healthiest team last year. Injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar left the Indians with a lack of depth in their starting rotation.  Early injuries to Yan Gomes and Michael Brantley didn’t help either, stranding both players on the disabled list for the majority of the year.

Related: 5 reasons the Indians will win the World Series

With all four Indians coming into spring training rested and recovering, the Tribe are only going to get better.

This 2017 roster now carries five All-Stars from last season’s American League roster, something the Indians haven’t done since 2004. Vegas predicts this roster to win 92.5 games, the second highest projection total in the MLB.

As we saw last year, team’s success isn’t the sole factor when it comes to getting people to the game.

Even being one of the best teams in the AL, the Indians ranked 28th out of 30 teams in home attendance.  Obviously fans could not predict the Tribe would be as successful as they were. However, attendance pace remained stagnant throughout the regular season, even after the team displayed their high level of talent.

For years, Indians fans have been asking their Tribe to live up to preseason expectations.  In 2016, the Tribe did that and then some.

Next: Can the 2017 Indians emulate the 2015 Royals?

Will a loaded 2017 Cleveland Indians roster be enough to get fans to the stadium? It should, but only time will tell.