Cleveland Indians: Stumbling toward a division title

The Cleveland Indians lost yet another close game on Monday but the magic number to win the division went down in the process.

If no Rays fans are present at Tropicana Field to see the team win, does it count? Apparently yes.

All the Cleveland Indians fans angry at Cody Allen saw Brad Hand allow a walk-off home run Monday night in front of a crowd that seemingly featured more fans rooting for the away team.

From the box score, this game appeared to be a bullpen game on both sides. While the Rays are surging and may be changing the way the game is played, the Indians only had to use the bullpen often because Corey Kluber lasted 1.2 innings. Not great news for the Cy Young chase.

The Indians did score five runs but also left 12 men on base.

I have been saying all month that the focus now is not on the day-to-day wins and losses, but rather everyone getting healthy and getting back to a normal playing routine. So on that note the return of Andrew Miller was a major positive on Monday.

Miller had an inning of scoreless work in his first appearance since August 26. Too bad this perfect inning wasn’t one to close out the game.

Other good news from the night came when the Minnesota Twins lost yet another game. That has the magic number down to four.

Today’s game will be important for reasons other than winning or losing because Josh Donaldson is set to make his Indians debut. That will bump Jose Ramirez to second and Jason Kipnis to the outfield. Let the experiment begin again.

Were you frustrated after last night’s loss? Good, you should be. I always see people on social media getting mad at those who have emotions when the team loses. It’s all part of being a fan. The difference is when fans get so mad they start unleashing hot takes and tweeting at players. That is not good.

A win tonight along with a Twins loss would drop the magic number to two and mean the Indians could clinch as early as tomorrow. But let’s just hope everything goes smoothly with Donaldson in the lineup first. Clinching this early in the month will just be the bonus prize, since we all knew it would happen since February.