Congrats, to Cleveland and their fans for punching their ticket to the dance.

:thumbup1:

Way to go Ryan Merritt! 4.1 great innings from a guy that throws 86mph with 11 innings of major league experience. Clutch. I probably would have let him finish the 5th since the bottom of the order was up. Thankfully Bryan Shaw didn't screw everything up.

And how about Coco - big homer in the ALDS, big catch in Game 3, another big homer last night. Looks like both the Miller and Coco trades were perfect.

Wonder if we could get one time through the order once from Salazar in the World Series. Or at least add him to the roster for a fifth inning at some point. Would be nice if he could contribute, both for him and the team.

p.s. and thanks to OHdevil for my next avatar! ;)

Jordan Bastian (via Twitter) reporting Salazar in WS is still in play:

"Francona: Salazar will throw sim game this weekend, possibly up to three innings. Manager didn't rule him out as rotation option."

So you're saying there's a chance! :laugh:

That would be huge if he could start and give them 5 or 6 innings!

Maybe 4 1/3 innings is the new 5-6 innings :laugh:

It is when you have Andrew Miller

I love it !!

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...aa&oe=589C5D53

Kluber was awesome. Hopefully Bauer's finger can stay together today.

I like the fact they moved the game up, at least for my sleeping needs. I don't like the fact that I have a 6pm dinner reservation so I will probably miss the first inning. :rolleyes:

With all the rain we are supposed to get tonight and tomorrow, I am not surprised they moved the start time up. I hope Bauer can go more than 2/3 of an inning and actually be effective.

Any thoughts on playing Carlos Santana in LF? This sounds like the worst idea ever to me, but it sounds like it is still being strongly considered. Especially in Game 3, considering Tomlin is not a flyball, non-strikeout pitcher.

I haven't seen anything definite yet. I guess we'll see.

I think he is athletic enough to play out there, usually that is where you stick your worst defensive outfielder. I know he has been taking fly balls out there the last couple days, so I think they really want to get his bat in the lineup. Someone suggested they stick Napoli out there since he played some outfield last year, but to me that is worse that Santana given his knee and back issues. He couldn't be worse than trying him at 3b a few years ago.

My final thoughts on the Indians' season:
It's a hard fact for Cubs fans to accept, but they had to go to extra innings in game 7 of the World Series to beat a team that hadn't had it's best player all year and had lost half their playoff rotation to injury, so does that make them the "best" team? I doubt it. But, eventually injuries will catch up to you in this game. Just ask the Cavs in 2015, forcing the "amazing" Golden State Warriors to 6 games with 40% of their starting lineup injured.
I am quite proud of this team. You just had to know that, even down 6-3 late in game 7, that they were not going to go quietly. Those extra innings the bullpen had to throw this postseason thanks to their injuries in the rotation finally caught up to them. Not much could have been done to avoid that, under the circumstances. Great fight, great grit, great season. On the plus side, at least we didn't blow a 1-run lead in the 9th like 1997.

Mad respect to the Cleveland Indians from this Cubs fan. The next time the Cubs are not in the World Series, I hope that the Tribe wins it all. Even 68 years is far too long to wait. Great perseverance and highly underestimated by many this season.

I have mixed feelings. I have a lot of the same feelings as bobbuttons. I hate that we lost the game with Bryan Shaw on the mound (I hate Bryan Shaw). I also hate that we lost the game with Michael Martinez at the plate. That's almost akin to losing with your pitcher batting because you burned your bench too soon.

In general though, the Indians did everything they could against a team that was just better than them in the long run. They basically tried to win a series with 3 pitchers.

Yes. Yes it does. Because the Cubs are the ones hoisting the trophy, not the Indians. :) Every team has issues they have to deal with whether during the season or in individual games. The champion is the team who plays through those issues and wins it all despite the issues. As a Tigers fan, I saw first hand how good a team Cleveland was this year. It didn't surprise me that they made it to the WS. Cleveland was good. But Chicago was better. Having to play 10 innings into the 7th game doesn't change that.