Cleveland Indians remain high in FanSided’s offseason power rankings

The Cleveland Indians haven’t made any major changes this offseason, but remain as one of the top teams heading into the 2018 season.

The Cleveland Indians are playing a meaningful baseball game in less than 100 days. Add that to the fact the days are getting longer again and all is well as Cleveland freezes over at the end of 2017.

December is not a time of too much change when it comes to power rankings, but FanSided rolled out a new set of rankings following the Winter Meetings, that also serves as the starting point for 2018.

The Indians may have held off on any major moves up to this point, but that hasn’t hurt the team in the rankings.

The Indians come in at No. 4 overall behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Houston Astros, and should hold firm in that spot throughout the remainder of the offseason.

Losing Carlos Santana, Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith may have an effect on the team’s success in 2018, but the talent returning is more than enough to outweigh the losses. Adding Yonder Alonso is a bit of a wild card move, but he should be able to do enough to keep the most enraged fans from declaring the Dolans are cheap for letting Santana walk.

It is easy to say now that the Indians, Yankees and Astros will all return to the postseason next year, but the Indians remain the team with the easiest path thanks to a weak AL Central. The Astros could face some real competition from the entire AL West, well maybe not the Athletics, while the Yankees always have to deal with the Red Sox.

Next: What fans can look forward to in 2018

That is why it is important not to panic so far out from the season, but it is nice to see the Indians high in power rankings. It is much better than going into a season without much excitement, hoping for a surprise.