Cleveland Indians: Answering some final questions to preview the upcoming season

The Cleveland Indians are just over a week away from starting the 2018 season and we recently took part in a Q&A to answer some burning questions about the team.

The Cleveland Indians finally begin the 2018 regular season next Thursday in Seattle, and as usual there are still questions to be answered.

The main question surrounds the health of Michael Brantley, but that is nothing new.

To answer some other burning questions, I took part in a Q&A over at The Cardinal Conclave in a series known as “Playing Pepper.” This is a yearly series that features previews from writers covering every MLB team and I would recommend checking it out.

The questions were:

1. What are your thoughts on the offseason? Did the club improve over the winter?
2. Francisco Lindor seemed to take another step next year. Is there another step for him to take this season?
3. What’s one thing people may overlook (either positively or negatively) about this team?
4. Who is the one key player, the guy that must have a good year for the Indians to do well?
5. What’s your projection for 2018? Where does the team wind up overall?
6. What’s one question I should have asked and what’s the answer to it?

My answers, along with those of Indians blogger Nino Colla, can be found right here.

The toughest question for me was No. 5. I think the Indians have what it takes to win the World Series, but I said the same thing last year. However, I don’t think it is biased at all to peg them as champions in 2018. So I shall declare them the 2018 champions in March and stress myself out with these high expectations for the next six to seven months.

Next: The state of the payroll now and in the future

Be sure to click the link to check out the entire Q&A, and check out the other entires in the “Playing Pepper” series. It will give you insight into other teams and make you sound smart when talking baseball.