Cleveland Indians: The Striking Similarities Between 2016 and 2007

The Cleveland Indians waited nine years to claim a division title. Let’s take a look at how this year’s club compares to the last team to raise a banner at Progressive Field.

The Cleveland Indians are American League Central Division champions, and the playoffs are headed to Progressive Field on Thursday with game one of the ALDS against the Boston Red Sox. It’s the Tribe’s first division crown since 2007, which also happens to be the year they last reached the division series and last met the BoSox in October.

Cleveland’s 2016 version will be handing the ball to Trevor Bauer to make the start against the highest-scoring team in the AL and a leading Cy Young award candidate in Rick Porcello. Corey Kluber and David Price, themselves former Cy winners, will be matched up in game two on Friday.

A lot of things are coming full circle with this most recent success story for Cleveland. There are myriad connections between the Indians and the Red Sox, and there are similarities with the 2007 club that are slightly uncanny.

But a span of nearly a decade may as well be a century to a fanbase that has been treated to very little autumn baseball over the past sixty years, so let’s take a closer look at a team that was so close, yet fell short, and how today’s club compares.