Cleveland Indians: Why fans shouldn’t be panicking right now

The Cleveland Indians have gotten off to a 1-2 start to the 2018 regular season. Some fans are understandably upset right now, but there is no reason to panic.

Coming into the season, the Indians were expected to win somewhere near 100 games this year, win the division convincingly, and contend for a World Series title. But after losing the opening series to the Seattle Mariners, a fringe Wild Card contender in the AL, some think the sky is falling.

Worry not, Chicken Little, the sky isn’t falling.

No, losing the first series of the year to a team with inferior talent isn’t ideal. But the sun has just begun to rise on the 2018 season. It’s nowhere close to setting below the horizon. This is baseball. There are 162 games in a season and losing two of the first three is not an insurmountable task. Anything can happen on any given day in a baseball season.

There are going to be games where teams with more talent lose to lesser teams. The Chicago Cubs have one of the most talented teams in baseball. The Miami Marlins have one of the least talented teams. Yet the Marlins were able to split their four game series with the Cubs, including a shutout on Sunday. Should Cubs fans panic? Nope.

The New York Yankees lost two games to an inferior Blue Jays squad. Should they panic? No. So there’s no reason for Cleveland Indians fans to get worked up over the failures of this team over the first few games.

The bullpen isn’t going to be what it was when Bryan Shaw was there. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be a good group.

Slow starts

Some players get off to slow starts. It happens, and that’s just how some guys are. Edwin Encarnacion got off to a slow start last year but he still turned in a pretty good season, didn’t he? I would expect him to have another good season this year.

This team will be just fine. That lineup is talented and full of MVP candidates. The rotation is special and has an incredible 1-2 punch leading it in Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco. The bullpen has Andrew Miller and Cody Allen anchoring it. This team has the talent and they are going to be fine. There’s no need to panic. It’s the beginning of April. Summer hasn’t even officially started yet.

If there are any missing pieces that this team needs that they didn’t get this offseason, the July trade deadline will be where the Cleveland Indians find the guys they need. They can get by without those guys until then. Remember, the 22 game win streak the Tribe went on last year happened in August and September. The team wasn’t on pace for 102 wins until something like that happened.

While we can’t depend on another 22 game winning streak, there’s plenty of time to right the ship. Everyone’s still finding their sea legs. No need to abandon ship right now, we’re just leaving port.

Next: Getting to know Tribe prospect Shane Bieber

The 2018 season is bound to be an exciting one for the Cleveland Indians. The team isn’t perfect, but no team is.