Three Predictions for the 2016 Cleveland Indians Season

With Spring Training getting ready to begin it is time to start to thin baseball once again. I know many fans were waiting for a major off-season acquisition and some were left disappointed.

Today I will give you my top three predictions for the Cleveland Indians 2016 season. Some of you may agree with me and others will think I'm crazy, if you would like to give me your thoughts tweet at me, @PaytonVince.

3.) Offense a ton better than 2015 season
In 2015, the Cleveland Indians finished 18th out of 30 MLB teams. The Indians scored 669 runs along with a team batting average of .256 . For 2016, I believe the Indians improve a ton offensively. I have hope that this becomes true because the Indians second half was completely different compared to their first half and I believe most of that came from the offensive spark of Francisco Lindor.

The Indians have also made some off-season moves that include; Mike Napoli, Joey Butler, and Rajai Davis. With those three specific moves I see a quick improvement offensively. Napoli comes to the Indians with a 1-Year deal which in my mind is low-risk, high-reward. Napoli can provide the spark that the Indians need especially against Left-Handed Pitching but is hurting the lineup against Right-Handed Pitching, expect the days that their is an opposing RHP that Napoli sits the bench. Butler and Davis improve the offense because those two hit for contact and gives the Cleveland Indians more speed on the bases.

2.) Corey Kluber gets run support
With the prediction of the Indians improving offensively, this next prediction has to come. Corey Kluber had a dismal 2015 season after coming off of a Cy Young year. Kluber will be set up for success as long as he gets the run support he lacked this previous season. Last season Kluber couldn't get the run support he needed in close games which led to an upsetting 9-16 season after having a 18-9 season in 2014.

With offensive production from the Indians this will guide Kluber in getting run support along with a much better 2016 season. Corey had 245 strikeouts in 2015 and 269 in 2014, you can expect the strikeout numbers in 2016 but a higher number of wins in the 2016 season. With run support for most of the Indians rotation , the team can easily become a contender because as you saw last year, the Tribe doesn't have any problems with pitching.

1.) Cleveland Indians clinch a playoff berth
I know that right away when you see this, you think that I am crazy. I am not saying that the Indians will be World Series champs but I am saying they at least make it to the Wild Card once again and hopefully this time around we will have a better result than in 2013. With the pitching that we have from Kluber, Carassco, Salazar that is a great start.

I know some people believe Bauer will become the 4th starter but I'm not convinced just yet, also for the 5th spot we have the options of Josh Tomlin, Cody Anderson, TJ House are convincing. I think we see an offensive turn around with help from Lindor, Kipnis, and Brantley leading the way and Napoli providing every so often. If the Indians at least perform offensively you can expect a playoff spot.