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The Players' Tribune - Let's do this Cleveland

+12 HS
Barfolomew's picture
April 4, 2017 at 9:18am
83 Comments

Hey there, baseball fans. I ran across a Players' Tribune article written by Jason Kipnis, thought I’d post it here  [link]. I enjoy the inside look you get from the Players Tribune, particularly when it’s written by a player on a team I root for.

In the article, Jason starts by reflecting on how much it sucked to lose the World Series and how he has been coping with it. It sounds like he was devastated and his strategy was to more or less avoid human contact as much as possible to avoid hecklers and the reminder of how the series ended.

Next, he goes on about his excitement for the team this year.

“I feel like this team is really just getting started.”

It’d be one thing to lose a World Series like that with a team of mostly older guys or players who were about to become free agents — kind of knowing that your window of opportunity is closing. But it’s different when you’re a younger team, or when you’re actually in the process of adding pieces for future seasons.

This is a new season. A new team.

And, to be honest … we’re a better team this year than we were last year.

I've got to agree. Last year's team was hit hard by injuries. If the team can stay relatively healthy this year then they're poised to make a solid run. 

He also goes on to talk about home field advantage, how the team plays better when Progressive is packed with Indians fans. He points out that the players noticed how many Cubs fans came to Progressive during the series and the effect this had on home field advantage.  I think the wrapup of the article comes off as a plea to Cleveland fans to come out and support the team, starting during the regular season as opposed to showing up at playoff time. Attendance last year was awful. On the bright side, season ticket sales are up 50% this year so things are on the right track.

Anyways, I'm excited about this season. Francona may be the best manager in baseball and he's got more talent available this year if they can stay healthy. Kluber struggled a bit yesterday, but it was refreshing to see the hitting pick up the slack for the pitching. 

I'll leave you with this (turn the volume on, I promise there will be no Rick Astley):

Feel free to use this thread for general baseball chatter if you like. 

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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