Oh, well, maybe next year.

Late work yesterday, early work today, I had to hit the hay when the rain delay came in. Congrats to the Cubbies & their fans.

At least you all can try to forget about it........I have to live with it a couple of more weeks I suspect. Fireworks going off until about 3 am this morning. Automobiles with banners hanging out the windows. Billboard messages. Homes with banners hanging from them (MY DAUGHTER'S HOUSE INCLUDED). I'm banning her from my house the rest of this month. NO Christmas presents!

I'm OK with the Cubs winning......they were the best team......on paper at least. The thing I am most bitter about is not the loss, but Cub fans outnumbering Indian fans in our house. To be honest, I think MLB has to investigate this one.

Very proud of the incredible fight and spirit this team had. Against all odds in all 3 rounds!

At the same time, I'm sad...for THEM! Gave it their all and came up painfully short.

Out of gas really, it became too much for the pitching staff to continually have to cover for being shorthanded.

Looking forward to next year.....oh yeah.....WITH Salazar and Carrasco.

That was the most exciting game of my life. Great overachieving team just missed when they really had no business getting that far. Plaudits to Tito, Callaway, Kluber, Allen, Miller, Lindor, Ramirez, Santana, Napoli, Kipnis, Davis, Shaw, Tomlin, and everyone else. The flaws were obvious to everyone but they barely made a difference to the final results. Best season of my life.
And I don't see any reason why this crew can't come back to the Series with Carrasco, Brantley and Salazar rejoining the cast.

Oh God!

Well, as expected, everyone is a-buzz about the Cub win last night here at the office.

My supervisor, young lad, told me his brother works for a car dealership. The owner purchased 4 tickets for $9,000.00 each, paid for their flights to Cleveland, and all concessions at the ball park were paid for.

They couldn't load the planes fast enough, a lot of charter flights.

I'm starting to hear a few horror stories!

From what I'm hearing here, a lot of Cleveland fans sold out. WTF!

Corporations doing the same thing (don't know how true it is since I'm hearing it here at work). But I suppose the stories are true from what I saw at the park last night.

It really was the Indians against the World.

God Bless America!

Since I seem to choose the losing side in all of my endeavors.............looks like Trump will be our next F'n president.

Because of my weird superstitions I didn't want to post during the game last night. Obviously we all have a lot of thoughts but I do want to mention one thing I saw.

In the 8th inning when Rajai hit the game tying home run, he had 2 strikes against him. I think it was 2-2. If you watch the replay, and believe me there are a ton of them on the Indians and MLB social media sites, you will notice a few things.

First of all, he choked up.

Secondly, he separated his grip just a tad. A little space between both hands on the bat.

Both a lost art now for some reason.

And lastly, he didn't even swing very hard. And it wasn't a full swing. Watch his back swing, it was only about a half a swing.

When you are facing a power pitcher like Chapman he provides a lot of the power for you. Just try to make good contact!

The amount of strike outs major leaguers have now a days, especially power hitters, drives me cRaZy!

The amount of strike outs major leaguers have now a days, especially power hitters, drives me cRaZy

Driven craZIER by the number of strikeouts by non-power hitters. e.g. Naquin, among the current Indians.

Naquin hit 14 homers in 350+ at bats. Not exactly a banjo hitter. But whatever.

You look at the league leaders in strikeouts I'm pretty sure the vast majority would be 20+ homer guys. Maybe all of them, I dunno.

JOE: Maybe you can share this with some folks up there:

I am really curious on Naquin's future. He came through the minors as a line drive hitter, never had more than 10 homers in a season. He started his big league career with 0 homers in 65 AB in April and May. Went nuts with 12 in 155 total AB in June and July. Finished up with 2 HR in 145 total AB in August and September. None in the postseason in 23 AB. Last homer of the season was on August 19. From that point on his xb hits were limited to 5 doubles in 120 at bats,

The final stretch splits:
Aug 20-31 19 AB 3 singles 9 K
Sep-Oct 2 67 AB 7 singles 3 doubles 23 K
Postseason 23 AB 4 singles 14 K
Total for those final 8 weeks: 14 hits in 109 AB, 5 doubles, SLG .174 46 K.

Which is the real Naquin?

Pitchers made an adjustment to him. He has to adjust back. Good news is he can hit breaking pitches and it is the fastball he has to adjust to.

Great point Hillbilly. I cannot recall a major leaguer who couldn't hit a fastball. There have been millions of great fastball hitters that couldn't hit off speed stuff and it forced them out of the game. While learning to hit off speed pitches can be impossible, I assume learning to hit a fastball should be easier?

Pat Graham, my goodness, it's been quite a while! Hope you and yours are well.

That would be my assumption too, Pat.

Barring any major trades and we stand pat like we usually do, my starting lineup for opening day 2017:

Starting Lineup:

1 Carlos Santana DH
2 Francisco Lindor SS
3 Jason Kipnis 2B
4 Mike Napoli (or the new guy)
5 Michael Brantley LF
6 Jose Ramirez RF
7 Yandy Diaz CF
8 Giovanny Urshela 3B
9 Yan Gomes

Bench:

1 Brandon Guyer
2 Lonnie Chisenhall / Tyler Naquin
3 Abraham Almonte
4 Eric Gonzalez / Michael Martinez
5 Roberto Perez

Rotation:

1 Corey Kluber
2 Carlos Carrasco
3 Danny Salazar
4 Trevor Bauer
5 Josh Tomlin

Pen:

1 Andrew Miller
2 Cody Allen
3 Bryan Shaw
4 Dan Otero
5 Jeff Manship
6 Perci Garner / Cody Anderson

/ = either - or

Pen / Bench (Depends on the amount of position players or relief pitchers we keep)

Joe,

I think they like Ramirez at 3rd and seem less excited about Urshela. I would expect him to be traded.
I don't think Diaz has enough speed to be a starter in center so you could move him over to RF.
But I would expect Guyer in RF if he can defend there, his hitting vs. lefties will keep him in the lineup in a platoon with Chisenhall. Diaz will be utility guy playing 1st, DH, LF to spell Brantley and some in RF.
Center is likely to be platooned Almonte and Naquin.

I think Clevinger is a lock on a job and could yet ease out Tomlin, although probably not from opening day.
I think Armstrong has a very good shot in the bullpen with Manship gone.
I am confident there will be two lefties in the opening day pen but whether the second is Crockett or Escobar or a FA is TBD.

Barring any major trades and we stand pat like we usually do,

I've noticed some fairly busy winters and summers by the front office lately. Resulting in a near World Series win. I expect slightly less winter activity this year, since the holds are fewer, and a good chance at a similar result next fall.