Cleveland Indians: Gauging some reasonable expectations for 2018

Aside from winning the World Series, Cleveland Indians fans will be looking for some other things to come true during the 2018 season.

Winning a World Series remains the ultimate goal for the Cleveland Indians in 2018.

Fans are also entering the year hoping for another shot at a title, and some fans may even claim that they don’t care about the regular season at all. But to me, that’s just crazy.

The regular season is a long, rollercoaster stretch of baseball filled with countless ups and downs, even for teams that advance to the postseason. And while the Indians are once again favorites to win the AL Central, nothing is guaranteed.

The regular season provides fans with storylines to talk about from spring until fall. Ignoring this time of the year defeats the purpose of following the team in the first place.

I know that fans who make these claims may just be frustrated following another disappointing finish, and that is fair, because there is still so much to watch for in 2018.

That got me wondering about what specific stats or storylines fans want to see in 2018. I posed the question on Twitter and got a response I can agree with.

Michael Brantley is just one player fans will be watching closely in 2018. Jason Kipnis, Danny Salazar, Yan Gomes, Yonder Alonso and others will be under the microscope as fans want the team to be as talented as possible when October rolls around. Kipnis in center field and a questionable starting rotation can’t be the case once again this year.

Alonso is one player in particular who will be critiqued early and often by fans, the same way Edwin Encarnacion was in 2017. But we must all remember to not overreact too early in the season, whether he is doing good or bad.

One thing I would like to see is a complete season from Salazar as a member of the starting rotation. I’m not sure if that is possible given all his arm issues, but it could lead to the Indians being the clear favorites to win the AL pennant. Whether the team avoids another early exit remains to be seen.

Hoping for another historic streak is an expectation that is likely out of the question, but we all thought that last year after the exciting streak seen in 2016. So who knows? Maybe the team will have an undefeated month in 2018.

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So what are you hoping to see in 2018?