Cleveland Indians get 102nd win in regular season finale; three takeaways

CLEVELAND-- The Cleveland Indians took on the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon in their regular season finale.

The Tribe came away with a 3-1 win after getting off to a hot start in the first inning, earning their 102nd win of the season to make their overall record 102-60.

The win also gave them their franchise-record 11th straight series win.

Before the postseason officially begins on Thursday with the first game in the ALDS, here are three takeaways from the regular season finale.

1. Walking over the competition

The Indians got off to a hot start in the top of the first inning.

Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis and Jose Ramirez all drew walks at the top of the order off of Chicago's Chris Volstad to load the bases with no outs.

Following a line-out from Edwin Encarnacion, Jay Bruce hit a sharp line drive to right field on a 93 mph sinker, allowing Lindor and Kipnis to score and put the Tribe up, 2-0.

In the next at-bat, Carlos Santana knocked a sacrifice fly to center, plating Ramirez and giving Cleveland a 3-0 lead.

Ultimately, those three runs would be all that the Tribe needed.

2. Little Cowboy's 10th win

Josh Tomlin made his final regular-season start on Sunday afternoon, and in the process earned his 10th win of the year.

He ended the game after five and one-third innings pitched, giving up four hits and one earned run off of a homer en route to striking out six. Tomlin threw 73 pitches, 52 for strikes.

Tomlin really hit his stride in July, and went 6-0 over his final 10 starts of the season, posting a 3.11 ERA with 45 strikeouts and just three walks. After his start against Detroit on July 1, Tomlin was 4-9 with a 6.17 ERA.

With Tomlin's win, the Tribe had five pitchers with at least 10 wins during the regular season (Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Clevinger, Tomlin), making them the first team to have two straight seasons with five 10-win pitchers since the Tampa Bay Rays did it in 2011 and 2012.

The Indians also wanted to work as many of the bullpen guys into the rotation as possible on Sunday, and Joe Smith, Tyler Olson, Zach McAllister, Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen all got time on the mound.

Combined, the bullpen went three and two-thirds innings, gave up no hits, had eight strikeouts, and walked just one batter.

For the entire year, the Tribe pitching staff has notched 1,614 strikeouts, setting a new all-time MLB record. They also end the year as American League and MLB leaders in team ERA with 3.30.

3. October baseball is officially here

There was no consequence for Sunday's game when it came to standings or home field advantage.

In fact, the only really consequential part of the day was Cleveland getting as many guys into the game as possible before they have to make postseason roster cuts.

"We’re going to have to make some really difficult decisions with our pitching staff and we know that," manager Terry Francona said. "Regardless of where it ends up, none of us are going to be real happy, because there’s guys that deserve to be on there that won’t be. And we know that. But, saying that, it’s better than not having enough because that’s real tough."

Tito on postseason roster cuts, tough decisions ahead. pic.twitter.com/MqtMwWxghT
— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) October 1, 2017

The Tribe ends the year with 102 wins for just the second time in franchise history. They also finished the season with a plus-254 run differential, good for highest in the majors and second-highest in franchise history. Along the way, they went on the longest winning streak in American League history and earned the top spot in the AL. We've seen walk-offs, the best rotation in baseball, 38 parrots walked, the evolution of Mini Team CLE, and one champagne celebration. All of it has led up to this, with a team that is peaking at exactly the right time. "It took us a while to get, whether it’s your rhythm, whether it’s your footing, whatever it is, but once they did, it’s like they never took their foot off the gas," Francona said. "I think there were times where maybe people would question, 'cause there were opportunities for it to happen. And they just kept playing. We were talking about it today as a staff, we’re really proud of these guys. Now, it’s a special regular season. Now, we’re going to go embrace the next challenge, whatever that may be."

Tito offers some thoughts on the end of the regular season. pic.twitter.com/wbEOZULjDC
— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) October 1, 2017

On Thursday, the second season officially begins at Progressive Field as the Indians will play the winner of the AL Wild Card game between the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees.

Get ready to rally together.