Sometimes How You Win Makes All the Difference

Usually the posts in this blog are an outlet for our anger and frustration with the teams that we love (and you might get one of those from Tom depending on what the Phillies do). But sometimes we just relax and enjoy the moment.

Yesterday the Indians clinched the AL Central for the first time in six years. Yeah, big deal, they've won the division 50% of the time since MLB moved to the wild card format. They've won the division 7 times since its inception 12 years ago so it doesn't matter. All those are valid arguments to truncate my joy, but this one is different. In the 90's people in Cleveland took winning the division for granted. Hell, we'd clinch in late August back then and basically let the Bisons play out September. After a couple years of this, there wasn't any excitement left in it.

This is partially due to the fact that humans naturally take for granted the things that seemingly will always be there. But I think the bigger reason was that there was no attachment to those teams. Sure they won and we loved it. Anyone in Cleveland can name that 1995 lineup from start to finish. But these guys were guns for hire. Ask anyone who their favorite Indians player of all time is and they'll either respond with a choice from the current batch or someone from the 40s.

There just wasn't that connection to the big salary guys of the 90s. Sure people loved Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and Sandy Alomar because they came up with the organization. But the times were never bad so we never got to see them grow. And plus, we knew that most of those guys would leave at the drop of a dime (literally). We, as fans, never paid the price with losing seasons and consequently never earned the championships. I'm sure that the older generations treasured the run because they felt the torture of a 100 loss season. But my generation mostly took it for granted. We were too young to really appreciate how terrible the Indians were before Jacobs Field opened. We were just along for the ride.

That's probably why, in 2002, fans went absolutely crazy when Indians GM Mark Shapiro traded Bartolo Colon to the Montreal Expos for three prospects. It was a sinking realization that next year we wouldn't make the playoffs. And possibly the year after that, and possibly never again. But those prospects were Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and Brandon Phillips. Little did we know that Sizemore and Lee would spearhead the second coming (Phillips was traded before the 2006 season to the Reds and is having an All Star season in 2007). We've followed these players' stats in the minors and eventually got to experience them first hand. We've seen them get their asses kicked and watched them kick ass. And through it all, it endeared us to them.

It made the late season collapse of 2005 even more heartbreaking. It made the 2006 season a huge disappointment. Because we were now emotionally invested in these teams, even if not willing to financially invest in them. But somewhere along the line C.C. Sabathia got his temper under control, Victor Martinez became a leader, and Fausto Carmona came out of nowhere. And the weird thing is, we were expecting it. We knew how good this team could be and we were waiting. We grew with them. And yesterday, when the champagne flowed in the locker room, everyone in Cleveland knew it tasted better than anything that was uncorked in home locker room at The Jake.

And this sort of thing doesn't happen with just small market teams. Look at the Yankees for example. Most of their fans would say that Derek Jeter is their favorite player. That's because, besides from being a winner, he was drafted by the team and became who he is through them. And right now the Bronx is cheering for the new guys Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and Joba the Hutt. The same goes for Jose Reyes and David Wright with the Mets. And just wait until that Devil Rays team gets it together. Trust me, its gonna happen. It always does at some point.