2017 Cleveland Indians

(I got all excited because Baltimore closed to within 9 runs of the Yankees...)

Reprieve, the sequel!

wow. thought this one was over!

that is very cool, down to their last strike.

wish the nation was watching this instead of the bad football game.

feels like a playoff game

even here in Toronto they had some dumb nfl game on the tv.

holy crap, jose ramirez stretching that to a double was something else

jeez

wow

just amazing.

Pretty cool.

average

The second-longest active winning streak is three (PHI).

i'm watching the bottom of the 9th now

wow gordon was so close to getting lindor's double

yeah ramirez's double was ballsy as hell

against cain of all guys

ahhh this was nuts

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-qaihcXkAABzEp.jpg

don't ruin this with that thing

feels like a playoff game

but it's not.

i love having this MLB Extra Innings package for times like this.

3 - 3

he went around

didn't matter, wondering if we are going to have a night like last night?

KC is now up

they're an excellent team

wake me when they lose

not looking good

they were down one run going into the ninth last night. can they do it again?

still fun

couldn't have happened to a racister team

well there's always the red sox i guess

It is pretty impressive that Cleveland did this streak without Andrew Miller too, considering how big he was in their success last season.

True, but most of the games weren't close (only four or five one-run games I think?) so Miller wouldn't have made much of a difference.

Kluber's had one not-that-good start since May 2 (in that one he gave up 4 ER/9 H in 6.1 IP vs the ChiSox, though he also only walked one while striking out 12.)

hard to choose between him and sale for cy young

i would have said Sale til a month ago but it's Kluber now i think. almost as many IP as Sale despite missing a month (and Sale not missing any time), lower WHIP, lower ERA, lower BAA, much higher bWAR (though curiously a much lower fWAR), plus 5 complete games and 3 shutouts to 1 and 0 for Sale.

also, Kluber has one more win. ; )

he's within 1.0 fWAR after today's game. sale's FIP is a bit better because of all the strikeouts, but is maybe getting some home run luck -- kluber has the better xFIP

They've still got 2-3 starts each, so things could change, but today, I'd definitely vote for Kluber. Sale's been up and down since the break--awesome starts mixed in with poor ones. Kluber since he returned from the DL:

ERA - 1.77, .171/.209/.283 opposition slash line, almost a 10-1 K/BB ratio. And that's not counting today's start. Also: dominant during the winning streak.

does anyone else stay up at night feeling bummed about how kluber started too late to be a HOFer

he should do a DBZ fusion with cliff lee then they'd both get in

This gives Sale 4.9 runs of support, Kluber 5.4...I wouldn't give that a lot of weight without knowing how the runs were distributed.

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/stats?season=2017&category=PITCHING+II&group=1&sort=2&time=0&pos=0&qual=1&sortOrder=1&splitType=0

Kluber leads in bWAR 7.1 to 5.9 (which doesn't include yesterday's start).

Sale's durability (= his big lead in IP) was maybe his biggest advantage over Kluber, but that's pretty much gone. I think it's Kluber's award to lose now.

https://www.mlb.com/indians/fans/miniteam

Kluber's bWAR is now 7.9

greatest stretch run in baseball history?

I guess it depends how you define it. Their division title was not in serious doubt before the 22 streak, so one might favor a team that came from behind, like the '51 Giants or '69 Mets. (Both went 39-11 in their last 50 and made up deficits; Indians will likely do slightly better, but always were in first place.)

2007 rockies finished 13-1 to force a game 163 against san diego (in which matt holliday never touched home plate)

yeah, that was in the back of my mind... didn't the Angels blow a big lead vs Seattle in the '90s?

it was '95, but that was more an Angels collapse (12-27!) than an M's stretch run.