IMO, biggest win of the year so far..  Had lost 3 straight to KC, was down 3 runs going into the 6th, facing the best bullpen in the AL, on the road, etc..  Then knuckled down and scored at least one run in each of the last four innings.

 

Big, big win..  Need to get the win tonight in order keep momentum and get as many fans in the ballpark as possible over the weekend.  Hopefully Cleveland can muster at least 20K fans for each game against Houston.  I'll do my part on a couple of games.

We scored each of our five runs in a different way last night:  RBI single, RBI triple, sac fly, RBI double, solo home run.  I'd have to think that doesn't happen all that often.

That game was awesome.  Tribe in the catbird seat now for the WC race.  Fingers crossed they can get the top WC slot so we can host the one gamer.

I missed the end. I was finally getting to watch Breaking Bad from Sunday.

Wasn't it a great episode?  I was rocking a half-chub the whole time.

Wasn't it a great episode?  I was rocking a half-chub the whole time.

 

Yeah, domestic violence is so entertaining.... :-o

 

So on the topic of this thread, think about this: The Indians just became the first winning team among the Big 3 in Cleveland since Lebron left three years ago. Sad.

Read this in USA Today yesterday--surprised no one posted since it's been a subject of debate here in UO land!

 

Nightengale: Owner calls dwindling crowds 'depressing'

PHOENIX -- The Los Angeles Dodgers sat in their visiting clubhouse, staring at the big-screen TV, and couldn't believe what they were seeing.

 

Seats. Lots and lots of seats. Most of them empty.

 

Here were the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers, tied for the American League wild-card lead, and a crowd of only 10,786 was on hand at Tropicana Field.

 

 

Rest of the story, including talk of economy, jobs lost, and demographics: 

 

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/09/17/dwindling-crowds-puzzling-for-contending-athletics-indians-rays/2829543/

^ "There no longer is a Fortune 500 company in town..." Ummm, what? That's blatantly false. Had to comment on that.

^ "There no longer is a Fortune 500 company in town..." Ummm, what? That's blatantly false. Had to comment on that.

 

Yeah I thought this would stir up the UO boys, for thoughts other than baseball! ;)

Every time the Indians get close, they collapse. They won only 2 out of the last 6 games against KC. Both series they had a chance to take the lead in the wildcard race.

 

What is the Indians record against Detroit this year?

^ "There no longer is a Fortune 500 company in town..." Ummm, what? That's blatantly false. Had to comment on that.

 

ouch USAToday!

^From the look of tonight's crowd, we're likely to drop below Miami for attendance by the end of the season. Only Tampa Bay keeping us out of the cellar.

 

Every time the Indians get close, they collapse. They won only 2 out of the last 6 games against KC. Both series they had a chance to take the lead in the wildcard race.

 

What is the Indians record against Detroit this year?

 

It's bad.  It's no secret that Detroit is a better team, but the head-to-head record in a single season doesn't mean much in of itself.  Just look at the Tribe record vs. Oakland and Texas (and Baltimore and Washington).  They won the season series over KC too.  Remember how much the Yankees dominated the Indians in the regular season in 2007?

^ True, but if we could at least compete with Detroit, we'd be first in the wildcard race by far, possibly even first in the division.

The good news: We won.

The bad news: Only 12,607 people were there to watch.

I think I aged ten years when Perez was pitching. Can you imagine this guy in a post season nail-biter? Oy.

The good news: We won.

The bad news: Only 12,607 people were there to watch.

 

I went to the game, while the numbers were disappointing, the crowd there was completely invested.  I would have to believe people were at their homes and in their cars with the same passion.  IT was a great crowd last night, everyone knew the importance of that game and was hooked by every pitch.  The later it got, the more rowdy it got.

There's a a pretty decent shot we'll host the WC play-in game.  You guys have done a good job helping me let go of my attendance angst, but if we do host this game, will we draw 30K fans?

^ I guarantee that a playoff game will sell out.  Playoffs are playoffs

Just picked up tix for tonight... Hope it doesn't storm

I bought 6 tix for the game tonight. Printing them out as I type this.  GO TRIBE!

I'm insanely jealous. Hopefully Baltimore puts the hurt on TB quickly tonight so you guys can cheer to scoreboard and watch the team formally climb into a wildcard slot from your stadium seat.  I'm assuming the Rangers/KC game won't wrap up till later.  Go tribe!!

Love from Mexico:

 

http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf/2013/09/cleveland_indians_fan_travels.html

I went to the game last night and maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was stunned by how few people showed up.  I honestly expected 20,000+ no problem on a nice, warm September night in the midst of a playoff chase.  Very disappointing attendance.  I have no idea how they can fix it either.

i have said this before and say it again.  Its the culture of the company as perceived by the customers.  If the indians were a really really good restaurant for decades, full every night...business is booming, and then customers had about 10 bad years of experiences there.  They are unlikely to return. IF the restaurant reboots, changes philosophy and product....  It will take a couple of years of people saying how great the food is again until they steadily increase and get a full restaurant every night.  Same thing here.  playoff chase or not, the hardcore fans are all in.  The casual fans dont care at this point, it will take some sustained success.  If they can make the playoffs this year, i would imagine it will slightly increase next year.  If they can do it again next year, then i would imagine the following year a bit more.  Dont think we will ever see 35K every nights

^ I bet they'll start selling out (or close to) if the team starts winning consistently. Cleveland may be a fair weather baseball town, but you can't say it doesn't love (and support) a winner. Look at the Cavs pre and during the Lebron era.

im still sticking my thought that this is a great baseball town.  DOlan even said in the PD interview with Terry Pluto, the TV and radio ratings are VERY high, top 5 in baseball.  Does it mean people arent fans because they dont go to the games?

Just picked up ALDS Game 1 tickets if we make it!!! (Progressive employee presale).

i have said this before and say it again.  Its the culture of the company as perceived by the customers.  If the indians were a really really good restaurant for decades, full every night...business is booming, and then customers had about 10 bad years of experiences there.  They are unlikely to return. IF the restaurant reboots, changes philosophy and product....  It will take a couple of years of people saying how great the food is again until they steadily increase and get a full restaurant every night.  Same thing here.  playoff chase or not, the hardcore fans are all in.  The casual fans dont care at this point, it will take some sustained success.  If they can make the playoffs this year, i would imagine it will slightly increase next year.  If they can do it again next year, then i would imagine the following year a bit more.  Dont think we will ever see 35K every nights

 

I have a hard time believing culture has anything to do with it.  At least it doesn't apply to the Browns.

 

The reality is this isn't really a baseball town.  The best example of this is 2007 when all 3 pro franchises were good.  The Indians went to the ALCS.  They had the eventual Cy Young winner and plenty of stars on offense - Hafer, Sizemore, Martinez.  But they didn't sell out games down the stretch as they were clinching the division.  The attendence was better that year than it is this year, but the last home game only sold 28,000.  Playoff tickets were still available a couple days before the game.  The Browns - who will always be #1 - were good and the Cavs were the toast of the NBA with LeBron and all of those games were sold out.  The Indians had the better season, yet attendence was still down, relatively speaking.

 

From 1994-2001, it was a perfect storm.  We had a new stadium, the team was great, the Browns were gone for much of it, and the Cavs sucked.  2005 and 2007 when the team was pretty good, they did not sell out many games, and most were under 30,000.  I was even able to get playoff tickets in 2007 a couple days before the game.  In years since 2007, people always complain about ownership not spending, yada yada.  Well, now they have no excuses.  Ownership spent a lot of money in the off season and the team is right there down the stretch.  Any BS about the economy or not believing in the team is a bunch of garabage.  The Browns give us no reason to believe ever yet they sell out and the Cavs had no problem selling out during the HEART of the financial crisis when LeBron was choking his way out of the playoffs.  This isn't a Cavs town either, but LeBron was a once in a lifetime player and was also a novelty like the 90's Indians so there's extra appeal.

Even when the Indians are winning and playing before a sold-out crowd, it is the most boring pro sports activity in town. I just don't like it, and when I can't trust the team to play well (like this one), it's a major bummer to go to games. However I must say that I love a noon weekday game in May or June when the weather is getting good. And there are few things better than the playoff baseball where every out matters.

 

This isn't a Cavs town either, but LeBron was a once in a lifetime player and was also a novelty like the 90's Indians so there's extra appeal.

 

I disagree. I went to probably a half-dozen Cavs games last year (three times more than the number of Tribe games I attended) even though I didn't expect the Cavs to win. The reason? The Cavs always puts on a good, entertaining show even if the Cavs basketball players were the least interesting part of it! Yet most times the Cavs teams were competitive. And the crowds were there. Most of the Cavs games I attended were sell-outs or nearly sold out.

Another factor is the sheer # of games in baseball.  81 home games is just so so many.  The indians actual draw total seat attendance numbers much higher than the cavs and browns.  Of course it's easy for the Browns to sell out games, they only have 8 games a year!!  Here are 2012 attendance numbers:

Indians:  1,450,812

Cavs:      663,882

Browns:  533,058

The fact that so much focus has been on attendance rather than the actual wildcard race, stories about this season, and the impact of the team's new guys tells me the whole topic is ultimately just indirect anti-Cleveland jargon. Tampa and Oakland don't get a fraction of the crap we get with attendance despite being superior teams in healthier regions. All this talk on attendance - which has utterly dominated cleveland.com, talk radio, these boards, yahoo articles, espn, even Forbes - is just the newest Carson Monologue/Burning River/Mistake on the Lake/Perk's hair on fire/ Perk's wife bowling/Kucinich/Cleveland Tourism Videos/Factory of Sadness that gets passed around. It's just noise.

 

Sure some criticism is valid, but the sheer amount of discussion and innuendos ("the city can't support three teams," "all the fortune 500s leaving hurt season ticket sales," "demographic changes are responsible," "Cleveland doesn't deserve the Indians") are ultimately "Cleveland sucks." Same insults, different rhetoric.

^Eh, Tampa (and the Marlins) is widely considered a failure of expansion.  Oakland shares a market with a vastly more popular baseball team, plays in the worst stadium in baseball, and is actively seeking to relocate within the region as a result. I don't think it's mysterious why Cleveland gets the attention.

 

Even when the Indians are winning and playing before a sold-out crowd, it is the most boring pro sports activity in town. I just don't like it, and when I can't trust the team to play well (like this one), it's a major bummer to go to games. However I must say that I love a noon weekday game in May or June when the weather is getting good. And there are few things better than the playoff baseball where every out matters.

 

This opinion is totally legit.  It's called not being a baseball fan and there's nothing wrong with that.  Much better than all the lame ownership bitterness. And if a higher share of Cleveland fans more closely hews towards your point of view than in other places, that's pretty much the definition of Cleveland not being a baseball town, as shs96 says. As a hardcore baseball fan I can be bummed, but there's nothing wrong with it.  I'm more or less the same with football.  I barely missed the Browns when they left town and it would never occur to me to watch the Browns on TV these days unless it's a crucial late season game or a playoff game (so in other words, I never watch the Browns).

While, like most fans, I immensely enjoyed watching the loaded offense of the 90's and loved being part of the packed house at Jacobs' field (two factors I would add to the 'perfect storm' list above), I fall into the category of "not a baseball fan".... even though I am a HUGE sports guy.  The reason I know that it is not just the Indians is that I NEVER watch baseball on TV, with the exception of flipping to the Indians games every now and then.  I just can't do it.  I don't watch the World Series.  I don't watch the All-Star game.  Nothing.

 

On the other hand, the Jaguars could be playing the Raiders on TV and I will watch from beginning to end.  Same goes for NBA games.

Just picked up ALDS Game 1 tickets if we make it!!! (Progressive employee presale).

 

Nice I got tickets to the Wild Card and ALDS Game 1 the same way. Hopefully they make it :)

While, like most fans, I immensely enjoyed watching the loaded offense of the 90's and loved being part of the packed house at Jacobs' field (two factors I would add to the 'perfect storm' list above), I fall into the category of "not a baseball fan".... even though I am a HUGE sports guy.  The reason I know that it is not just the Indians is that I NEVER watch baseball on TV, with the exception of flipping to the Indians games every now and then.  I just can't do it.  I don't watch the World Series.  I don't watch the All-Star game.  Nothing.

 

On the other hand, the Jaguars could be playing the Raiders on TV and I will watch from beginning to end.  Same goes for NBA games.

 

Same here. If I am watching TV I will usually check on the Indians, and if they are winning, watch it for an inning or so. If I happen to flip over and the game is in the 9th Ill usually watch unless we are down bad. In general, baseball games take too long and don't have a lot of action. A pitching duel is not that exciting. Add that to the fact that there is a million games and its easy to get bored.

Just picked up ALDS Game 1 tickets if we make it!!! (Progressive employee presale).

 

Nice I got tickets to the Wild Card and ALDS Game 1 the same way. Hopefully they make it :)

 

I got my wildcard tickets too.  Can you imagine that?  THat would be insane.  A do or die baseball game for your season.

Just picked up ALDS Game 1 tickets if we make it!!! (Progressive employee presale).

 

Nice I got tickets to the Wild Card and ALDS Game 1 the same way. Hopefully they make it :)

 

I got my wildcard tickets too.  Can you imagine that?  THat would be insane.  A do or die baseball game for your season.

 

Unfortunately I'm gonna be out of town for work for the wild card game so I didn't get those. I did also get ALDS game 2 tix. Now we just need to make it!

Ugh. That storm really kept a lot of people away.

 

Dollar dogs are strictly a delivery system for Stadium mustard

Wildcard!!!!!

So theoretically if we would win the 1 game play in, who would we face in the Series? Is it worst and first, which would mean Boston?

 

BTW the reds and pirates are both currently in the wild card spot, 5 games ahead of the nearest team.

Yup, probably gonna be Boston.

I actually like our chances vs Boston more so than others.

Little slow here.... I just learned today that winning the two wildcard spots means only that a team gets to play a one-game playoff for the right to play in the ALDS. What kinda BS is this? Why did we waste an entire 162-game season only to have it all decided by one stinkin' game?? Gee, maybe THIS has something to do with attendance being down all across baseball?

 

So now I want to pay LESS attention to this team unless and until they win the one-game playoff. Let me know if that happens. See ya later.

its not like they decided on that this weekend.

Little slow here.... I just learned today that winning the two wildcard spots means only that a team gets to play a one-game playoff for the right to play in the ALDS. What kinda BS is this? Why did we waste an entire 162-game season only to have it all decided by one stinkin' game?? Gee, maybe THIS has something to do with attendance being down all across baseball?

 

So now I want to pay LESS attention to this team unless and until they win the one-game playoff. Let me know if that happens. See ya later.

You should have seen it last year. This first 2 games was at the wildcard winners home. The last 3 was at the team with the best record home. I hope it's not like that this year.

Little slow here.... I just learned today that winning the two wildcard spots means only that a team gets to play a one-game playoff for the right to play in the ALDS. What kinda BS is this? Why did we waste an entire 162-game season only to have it all decided by one stinkin' game?? Gee, maybe THIS has something to do with attendance being down all across baseball?

 

So now I want to pay LESS attention to this team unless and until they win the one-game playoff. Let me know if that happens. See ya later.

 

 

Little slow here.... I just learned today that winning the two wildcard spots means only that a team gets to play a one-game playoff for the right to play in the ALDS. What kinda BS is this? Why did we waste an entire 162-game season only to have it all decided by one stinkin' game?? Gee, maybe THIS has something to do with attendance being down all across baseball?

 

So now I want to pay LESS attention to this team unless and until they win the one-game playoff. Let me know if that happens. See ya later.

 

 

 

Really. Baseball much?

Little slow here.... I just learned today that winning the two wildcard spots means only that a team gets to play a one-game playoff for the right to play in the ALDS. What kinda BS is this? Why did we waste an entire 162-game season only to have it all decided by one stinkin' game?? Gee, maybe THIS has something to do with attendance being down all across baseball?

 

So now I want to pay LESS attention to this team unless and until they win the one-game playoff. Let me know if that happens. See ya later.

 

But in prior years, the second wildcard team would have just gone home without any post season baseball. As the standings are now, this format is great for us.  Of course if we overtake the Rays for the first spot, I'll feel very differently about it.:)

^ i was about to say what if we overtake the rays...!

 

i really dislike the wildcard playoff game too for the same reason, the stupid one game wildcard playoff.

 

i wish mlb would just go back to giving the wildcard to one team.

 

otoh i do like giving the ws home advantage to the all-star game winning league. it gives that game some purpose, rather than just wasting pitching arms.

 

 

 

I thought I heard that the current wildcard system was put into place, in part, to prevent the Yankees and Red Sox from just putting it in cruise control down the stretch once it was clear that those two had the Divisional title and WC spot locked up.  With the current system, no team can just sit back and be complacent with earning a WC birth.

^ pittsburgh and cincinnati can!