Cleveland Indians finish regular season atop ESPN power rankings

The Cleveland Indians head into the postseason ranked as the No. 1 overall team in baseball, according to ESPN’s MLB power rankings.

The Cleveland Indians began the 2017 season ranked No. 2 overall in ESPN’s MLB power rankings, behind only the Chicago Cubs.

After an up and down season that saw the team hover around .500 for a few months, the Indians went on a historic surge and find themselves atop the power rankings after 162 games.

From the article:

"The Indians made history with their in-season winning streak, now they just have to win 11 more games to earn the Tribe’s first World Series title since 1948. Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez keyed an offense that scored the Indians’ most runs since the high-injection offense of the Naughty Aughties back in 2006. But the real breakthrough was on the mound, where Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer broke through with big years, joining ace Corey Kluber to give Cleveland a decisive starting pitching edge. Now the challenge is whether a rotation-enabled Indians team can surpass last season’s short-staffed run to a World Series loss in seven games. — Christina Kahrl, ESPN.com"

Fans always expected the team to return to the postseason, but things are even looking better this year given the health and dominance of the pitching staff. The team is in a position where there is a surplus of talent to choose from, in contrast to last year when it was the Corey Kluber and Andrew Miller show.

These power rankings mean nothing once the ALDS begins on Thursday, but it does show fans just how dominant this Indians team is in 2017. And based on the talent under contract for the next few years, this type of success isn’t going away anytime soon.

Winning a World Series this year would help us all enjoy the ride that much more, as there wouldn’t be that constant pressure and fear of going another year staring up at that 1948 title banner.

The Indians will finally know their ALDS opponent after tonight, helping us shift our focus to the games to come later this week. For now, may I suggest watching this on repeat.

Next: Indians pitching historically good in 2017

Never gets old. Unless you are a Kansas City Royals fan, but then why are you reading this article?