Five Reasons Behind The Indians Recent Hot Streak

By Adrienne Goehler

Despite being written off by most, the Indians are still in the hunt for the 2nd wild card spot in the AL, and most of that credit is due to their play as of late. A loss to the Twins on August 7th had put the Indians at their lowest point in the season at 10 games under .500. As they slowly climb their way back up and continue to win, has this team actually turned a corner? It appears they may have found something as they have now won six games in a row, and finished a solid 16-12 in August. The last time the Indians saw the .500 mark was on April 10th and are now sitting two games below that at 64-66.

They started off the nine-game road trip by taking game one of three against the scorching hot Blue Jays in Toronto. Danny Salazar provided another quality start for the Indians working 7 innings and striking out 10, helping lead them to a 4-2 victory. At four games back of the Rangers and right on the heels of Tampa Bay and the Angels, the Indians have 32 games left in the season to try to jump four teams. While they still have a ways to go to remain in the discussion, on this exact date in 2013, they were 4.5 games out with 27 left to play. As you remember, that was the season the Tribe won their last 10 straight to sneak into the wild card game. Their remaining schedule leaves them with 18 home games and 14 away (5 against the AL East and 27 against the AL Central) which could provide a huge advantage for the Tribe since they have won 10 of their last 12 at home.

By now, you may be wondering how they have hung around in the standings and are still playing meaningful baseball in September. Here are the top five reasons why the Indians have seen recent success, and have a fighting chance to sneak into the playoffs.

1. The Indians have won nine of their last eleven games, outscoring opponents 58-32 with 105 total hits. The highlight to many were the two grand slams in back-to-back games (Yan Gomes, Abraham Almonte) against the struggling Angels. The Indians swept the five-game home stand after rolling over the Brewers with ease during their short series, then taking all three from the Angels over the weekend. As mentioned above, after last night’s win in Toronto they have extended their winning streak to six straight, tying their longest of the season.

2. The first three batters in the lineup each have a batting average over .300 (Kipnis .319, Lindor .307, Brantley .322). Brantley hit .424 in the month of August.

3. The Indians have the fifth highest OBP (.327) in all of baseball. More base runners usually means more runs scored, but not always for the then struggling offense. Lately the timely hitting from players like Carlos Santana has been a key in the success for the Tribe. In 2015 Santana’s OPS with RISP is .776 when the average for first basemen in all of baseball is .772.

4. Before yesterday’s game the Indians pitching staff held opponents to just a .216 batting average (the lowest allowed in all of baseball) and fifth best ERA (3.49).

5. Indians short stop Francisco Lindor has suddenly launched himself into the AL rookie of the year conversation with a loud August. Lindor recorded 40 hits, 8 doubles, and 12 RBI with a .385 average in the month. The last Indians rookie that had a 40+ hit month was Coco Crisp in July of 2003.