Cleveland Indians: Giving meaning to this final home series

The Cleveland Indians are locked into the third seed in the American League playoffs but continue to provide fans with magical moments.

The Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox are counting down the days to October. Both teams are already division winners and don’t have much to play for.

But that doesn’t mean this weekend series hasn’t had a special feeling to it.

The Red Sox took the first game by the score of 7-5. Then the Indians bounced back with a walk-off victory to even the season series at 3-3. Time for Game 7 tonight.

On paper, this weekend series didn’t mean much. Yet feelings change when there is a packed house at Progressive Field. The entire energy shifts and the game feels important. That was certainly the case last night.

This entire week has had a special feeling to it. I personally fell into the trap of just waiting for the postseason to arrive. Then Jason Kipnis hit a walk-off grand slam. Then Michael Brantley had his walk-off moment. Now I am excited to see what special things the team will do during the remainder of the regular season, whether it technically matters or not.

Tonight’s game will have another special feeling about it as the two teams finish their regular season series in primetime. The ESPN broadcast will likely hype up the game as a potential ALCS preview, but there is a lot of work to do before that can happen.

Adam Plutko is on the mound tonight which means this isn’t exactly a playoff pitching preview. He enters the game with only 57 strikeouts. Every postseason starter for the Indians will have at least 200 strikeouts on the year. Another feat that has made the weekend meaningful.

The offense has put up at least four in every game this week while the pitching staff has been solid as well. The final two weeks of the season are essentially one giant victory lap for the Indians. But when teams are great, it is hard to simply coast toward October.