All Time Indians

All Time Indians (New Cards!)


Today's team is the Cleveland Indians. With many of the contributors to this site being Indians fans, there is considerably more cards to chose from than any other team. Sadly to say, none of these fans have seen an Indians championship team, as the only two came in 1920 and 1948. However, with 6 AL Pennants, 11 Divisional Championships and a Wild Card berth, there has been plenty of October baseball since the teams inception in 1900. They also set the record for longest win streak in the AL with 22 games in 2017.

 Logo Circa 1915- I'm sensing a pattern here

This lineup is going to absolutely mash the ball. They present an almost full lineup, with the only real "weakness" is Lindor's 8 OB (yet stellar card). Who other than Kenny Lofton could lead off this team, with his 10 OB, stellar speed and look at that ridiculous 1B+ chart!! The first of the two Alomar brothers is Roberto with another 10 OB, speedy card batting second, who gives a more traditional chart with a HR and a bunch of doubles. This gives them 5.88 and 5.61 expected runs to set the table for Albert Belle's monstrous 1995 card. He comes in with 10 OB, and a ridiculous 5 HR chart to put him just over 7 expected runs, at 7.02. Giving him some protection is the 2001 Manny Ramirez who is one of the top cards from the original set with 10 OB, 4 HRs and three doubles. Combining that with only two outs you get a great 6.68 expected runs. Jim Thome's 2002 card brings an extra HR, but only one double for 6.47 runs. Hafner 2006, whose card is very similar to Manny's, comes in at 6.33 due to a few less 1Bs and an extra out.

Jose Ramirez's studly 2018 card is batting 7th, which shows you how good this lineup is. He comes in at 5.91 expected runs, gives some positional flexibility, and A speed. Finishing out the lineup is the lower OBs, with Roberto's brother batting 8th and Lindor batting 9th. Although they're lower OB their charts are plentiful and provide great defense. I toyed with the idea of batting Ramirez 9th, but you need him to continue dropping the hammer on opposing pitchers. Alomar and Lindor come in at 4.94 and 4.89 expected runs respectively, making this a very deep lineup. The pitching staff is even better than the lineup. McDowell's classic card leads the way as a top 30 pitching card ever. He's a 6-17 with no doubles and 7 IP which comes in at a closer like 4.72 expected runs. Behind him is his teammate in Luis Tiant, who is a 5-18 with a double, but a ridiculous 8 IP, for 5.21 expected runs and under 3 when you factor in his IP (McDowell is just above 3 with IP). Trevor Bauer slots into the third spot with an ace like 6-16 with no doubles for 5.36 expected runs.

Kluber's dominant 2017 card is just a hair behind Bauer at 5.38 expected runs over 7 IP. Bob Feller's 1946 card is only 3 control but by god will he dominate regardless. 19 to get on, only gives up walks, and can do it for 8 IP for 5.66 expected runs and one of the lower inning weighted averages you'll see out there! Talk about dominance 1-5. Their bullpen isn't taking the foot of the gas either, with three pitchers coming in under 5 expected runs. Leading the way is none other than Andrew Miller's 2016 card that is a 5-18 with no doubles. Mesa is up next with a 6-17, and Chris Perez is the final with a 4-19, both giving up no doubles and coming in at 4.90 and 4.96 expected runs respectively. Jackson and Otero are identical 6-17s with a double for 5.24 expected runs, and Rafael Perez is at 5.27 with 4-19. Finishing out this disgusting bullpen is Betancourt with his 5-18 and a double for 5.38 expected runs. My gawd they're going to be problems for opposing hitters.

 The pitching staff is deep and disgusting across the board, and with only one 3 Control, they will have no problems with some of the more OB studded teams. The bench also provides a bevy of options with David Justice, Ellis Burks and Michael Brantley all coming in above 6 expected runs which is just mind boggling. However, all three plug in at L/R, so there isn't any positional flexibility there. Brantley comes in at +2 defense and so he'll lead the charge due Manny's +0 defense. One other option is Omar Vizquel, who comes in .13 behind Lindor but is a 9 OB, 23 speed and keeps the +5 fielding. The top options on the pitching staff is the unreleased Cliff Lee thanks to Matt and the 2019 Mike Clevenger in the All Decades Team (2 walks vs 2 singles in the base set). They come in at 5.68 expected runs, and Lee gets the nod due to his extra IP. In the bullpen the top remaining arms are Cody Allen's 2014 card and Satchel Paige's 1948 (also thanks to Matt) card which come in at 5.66 and 5.68 expected runs each. Despite Paige actually being behind a few others, his weighted IP gives him a huge boost. For the bench spots, I'm going to roll with Brantley to give a +2 defense in the outfield and an extra 20 speed for pinch running, Vizquel for +1 OB for Lindor and a 23 speed pinch runner without sacrificing that sweet +5 defense. The other two spots I'll go with Lee and Satchel Paige due to his disgusting 3 IP that can allow us to plug him in to eat some innings and not really give up any performance along the way.

In totality, this team is going to be a top contender. Their lineup is very good, although I wouldn't put it on the upper tier of some of the earlier teams we rolled out there. It totals at 4,480 points which is still a very solid number, and they will be able to use both speed and power to put up runs. The real money makers on this team are in the pitching staff, with the starting rotation coming in at a ridiculous 3,240 points. The bullpen isn't as high as I thought it would be, but still a staggering 1,430 points. The bench is at 1,860 points which is very high, and puts the team total at 11,010 which might be the highest we've seen yet (although there are a LOT of alterations to be made on the initial releases).

Hitters

SP

RP

The top offensive seasons in Indians history belong to Nap Lajoie, who was one of the most dominant players from the late 19th century into the 20th. His top year he hit a ridiculous 51 doubles, can you imagine that type of chart? If we wanted to add one of Feller and Paige's teammates, Lou Boudreau had a hell of a 1948- he won MVP while slashing .355/.453/.534, amassing 199 hits and 99 walks to go with 34 doubles, 6 triples, 18 HRs and 106 RBIs. Would it be enough to knock Mr. Smile or Ozzie off at SS?  Al Rosen's 1953 is probably the only other card that might have a shot at cracking this lineup. Another MVP winner, he did it with a league leading .613 slugging, 1.04 OPS, 43 HRs, 145 RBIs and 115 runs. He also managed to knock 201 hits for a .336 average- might be enough to bump Jose Ramirez. From a pitching stand point, this team doesn't really need much help- but we might as well see if we can get some! Gaylord Perry's 1972 season is the top WAR season in Indians history- coming in at 10.8- in which he led the league with 24 wins and 29 complete games. He finished with a 1.92 ERA over 342.2 IP in 40 starts while racking up 234 Ks, which got him a Cy Young award. Every other performance in the modern era is covered. Next up, the NL EAST!