Cleveland Indians finish regular season high up in ESPN power rankings
The Cleveland Indians have the fewest wins of any American League playoff team, but are still ranked higher than any National League team.
The Cleveland Indians enter the postseason with a record of 91-71. I should clarify. They begin the postseason with a record of 0-0 on Friday. It’s a whole new beginning starting in Houston.
The regular season was a bit dull at times but 91 wins is nothing to be upset about. That mark was good enough to cruise to another American League Central title and also enough to finish the year ranked No. 5 overall in ESPN’s MLB power rankings.
That puts the Indians fifth overall behind the other four AL playoff teams, while the Chicago Cubs are the first National League team to appear on the list at No. 6 overall, even though the Cubs finished the 162-game regular season with 95 wins.
The Indians opened the season ranked No. 4 overall, which is a fitting example of how the season has gone. The team has been considered a top contender all year, even if some fans felt the team was dragging along at times.
As I said in the beginning, the record is now back to 0-0. The Houston Astros may be ranked No. 1 in the final regular season power rankings, but that doesn’t mean much starting Friday. Still, it is interesting to see where the team stands. It could serve as some nice bulletin board material if that is still a thing.
The Indians entered the 2017 postseason atop the AL, and we saw how that went. Perhaps a regular season filled with less excitement will serve the team well against an Astros team looking to do the difficult task of repeating as champions.
It may seem like forever between now and Friday, but at least we can solely focus on postseason baseball at this point. No more overanalyzing a loss against the Royals or the Tigers.