Cleveland Indians: 3 things that went right in August for Cleveland

3 things that went right in August for the Cleveland Indians

The month of July was not kind to the Cleveland Indians. The team had struggles finding the win column and the trade deadline seemed to doom the season for the organization. Luckily, the month of August was a much better period for the team. While the Tribe didn’t look like world beaters, they at least held their own and raised some optimism around the club.

Offensively, the month of August saw Cleveland finish second in stolen bases (32), third in hits (252), eighth in RBI (131), ninth in runs (136), tied for ninth in doubles (50) and 10th in home runs (40). For a team that struggled early in the year to produce anything offensively, those stats are very promising for the club, especially coming in so many different stat categories.

As for on the mound, Cleveland didn’t reach the marks they had in previous months. The offensive was able to make up for the struggles, but it wasn’t what we had come to expect.

So, in the grand scheme of things, these three items are positives to take away from August into the rest of the season.

Emmanuel Clase, CP, Cleveland Indians

One of the brightest spots from the month of August was the performance by relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase. Leading up to August Clase had been a strong force in the bullpen, but he lacked consistency at times. However, he put together the best month of August the team could have asked for, being named the Reliever of the Month for the American League.

Tossing 12.2 innings over 13 appearances, Clase was lights out. He didn’t allow a run and gave up just four hits, seeing opposing batters hit just .095 against him. The icing on the cake is that he struck out 15 while walking just one batter. Clase’s dominance allowed him to go perfect in save situations, recording six, as opposed to July when he had multiple blown saves.

At just 23-years old, the impressive month from Clase is very promising. He’s shown flashes, but this was his first extended sample of consistency. If that can continue through the end of the season, that would be a huge boost going into next season.

The Cleveland Indians broke even

It seems odd to say that a .500 record in the month of August was a huge positive for the Cleveland Indians, but after the month of July it truly was that important. July saw Cleveland go 9-15, nearly destroying the club’s season. However, August saw Cleveland bounce back a bit and finish out 14-14.

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While record is just wins and losses, the overall picture of August was an overall bright sign. For the first time this season, Cleveland’s run differential for a month was greater than just +1. Cleveland scored 136 runs in August while allowing 117 for a +19 margin. The only other month with a positive run differential was June and that was only +1.

While finishing out exactly .500 shouldn’t be a big accomplishment, it was more than what was expected from the team. After the deadline moves and Terry Francona stepping away, Cleveland could have very easily withered away the rest of the season with focus on 2022, but that wasn’t the case.

Hopefully, the .500 record and strong performances will spiral into a strong finish to the season for Cleveland. Hope for any postseason berth is insanely slim this year, but this is setting the stage for a more hopeful 2022 campaign.