Cleveland Indians: Focusing on the magic number after a series split

The Cleveland Indians finished the series in Toronto with a loss but have a chance to clinch another division crown this week.

On a day when the biggest sports story in Cleveland was a tie in a football game, the Cleveland Indians picked up loss No. 62 north of the border.

It was an odd series in Toronto against a Blue Jays team that is coasting toward a rebuilding phase. There just isn’t that same magic in that building like there was a few years ago. Perhaps the Indians ended an era in the 2016 ALCS.

The series ended with a 6-2 loss in another game where the offense just couldn’t get anything going. It was the same amount of runs scored in Friday’s game. Interestingly enough, the Indians scored nine runs on both Thursday and Saturday.

Mike Clevinger picked up the loss on a day when he only allowed three earned runs and reliever Jon Edwards allowed a three-run home run of his own. I can just picture fans at home yelling “who is this guy?!?”

Such is the way of things in September when the division is all but wrapped up. On that note, the Indians’ magic number is down to five. I will be at the game on Friday so I am hoping to witness a banner being raised.

These games aren’t meaningless. It is important to continue playing at a high level and enter the postseason on hot streaks. But one loss to split a series is nothing to get too worked up about. Things would be different if the Indians were swept against an inferior Blue Jays team.

This is always a difficult point in the season. The fans are ready for October, as are the players.

I think some of the reason fans may be getting antsy this year is because there is no crazy win streak keeping everyone glued to their televisions. That magical run last year gave everyone a reason to tune in every single night for three weeks to witness October baseball in September.

But we all know how that ended when October finally rolled around.

It’s a long season and a bit of boredom and some frustration is the result of the Indians being a perennial contender while the rest of the division is trying to successfully rebuild. Or whatever it is the Royals had planned.

Next up is a series at Tropicana Field against the Rays. Even if the series isn’t wholly in the Indians favor, the magic number can still go down. The series should also see the return of Andrew Miller and the debut of Josh Donaldson. So while the intrigue of a pennant race isn’t there, storylines are still plentiful with this team.