Cleveland Indians at No. 10 spot in FanSided’s MLB power rankings

The Cleveland Indians have not been consistent at any point this season, and are now in the No. 10 spot in FanSided’s MLB power rankings.

The Cleveland Indians have not been great this season, but a 15-12 record is nothing to be upset about. This 15 wins is the most in the American League Central, as of this afternoon, and has the Indians keeping pace with the rest of the competition.

But the record itself is not why the Indians dropped to No. 10 in FanSided’s MLB power rankings this week. Rather, it has been the inconsistent play from much of the roster.

The bullpen is exempt from this as the group has been nearly perfect all year, but the starting pitching and offense has seen some problems up to this point. As for the pitching, there is this from the power rankings article:

"Cleveland has started slowly in their AL title defense, and the starting pitching has been all to blame. Only Carlos Carrasco has pitched well on a consistent basis. Danny Salazar has had hit moments and has struck out 13.0 per nine. He has also walked an unsightly 4.3 per nine. Trevor Bauer’s ERA is touching 8.00, while Josh Tomlin’s is close to 9.00. Regardless of how great the offense has been, the Indians will not take off until their starting pitching figures things out."

More from Away Back Gone

• Cleveland Guardians tantalizingly close to locking up AL Central tiebreakers
• Cleveland Guardians: Terry Francona becomes meme in profanity-laced ejection
• Say goodbye to defensive shifts and hello to bigger bases, pitch clock in 2023
• Cleveland Guardians: Shane Bieber second-fastest to 800 strikeouts in major-league history
• The next week will make or break the Cleveland Guardians’ season

Carlos Carrasco has indeed been the only consistent starter, as Corey Kluber has had an up and down start to the year. And now that the ace is on the disabled list, things only get more uncertain.

Then there is the offense, which put up a total of six runs in three games against the Detroit Tigers earlier this week. The bullpen was able to come in and shut down the Tigers in the first two games, just waiting for the offense to do something, but the runs never came.

A 3-2 victory on Wednesday was nice, but it took an elite performance from the pitching staff. That is not going to be possible on a consistent basis throughout the season.

The good news is that it is still early, and while the team is struggling they have still managed 15 wins up to this point. Things need to get better, but there is no reason to panic right now.