Make no bones about it; the Cleveland Indians have woefully underperformed this season.
Blame it on Sports Illustrated jinxes, on questionable spending from the front office, or on whatever you feel is the root of the problems. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Cleveland was supposed to be a surprise contender this year, and they woke up this morning dead last in the AL Central.
Any faint wild card hopes the Indians may have had are all but eviscerated thanks to one of the most pathetic showings of the season during the current four-game set with the Chicago White Sox. Three games in, Cleveland has been outscored 24-4 against a Sox team which has struggled all year. The Tribe now finds itself 8.5 games out of the final wild card berth, and is showing no signs of rebounding.
Despite all this, despite the relentlessly putrid offense and spoiled pitching performances, you’ll hear no talk about jobs on the line in Cleveland. As upsetting as this season has been, there’s not one rumor to be found regarding anyone in the front office, nor coach Terry Francona being put on the hot seat. Quite frankly, everything seems to be status quo when it comes to this.