The Francona 500: Five Memorable Moments of Terry Francona's Time as Indians Manager

Monday night with a 9-3 win in Kansas City, Indians manager Terry Francona notched his 500th win as the teams' skipper. Since joining the team in 2012, the

Monday night with a 9-3 win in Kansas City, Indians manager Terry Francona notched his 500th win as the teams' skipper.

Since joining the team in 2012, the Indians have three playoff appearances, and have won two AL Central Titles, with a third coming this season unless there's an epic collapse within the franchise.

He and the Tribe have the most wins of any American League team in the last five seasons, and with young stars like Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez and ace Corey Kluber, the winning for the Indians does not look like it's going away anytime soon.

Today we look back at what we're calling the 'Francona 500' - a fun rundown of five memorable moments of his career with the Indians as we give some love to the manager that has led the Tribe back into the national eye as one of the best teams in baseball.

1. The Intro

After Manny Acta was fired with six games left in the 2012 season, and Sandy Alomar Jr. took over as interim manager, the search was on to see if there was a better option for the Tribe as the new voice of the team.

Enter Francona, who was sitting behind a desk at ESPN as an analyst after he was canned after the 2011 season by the Boston Red Sox in a shocking move.

Francona was rumored by some to be a candidate to take over in Detroit for Jim Leyland, but then the Indians got involved, and thanks to a long relationship with Mark Shaprio, Chris Antonetti, and history with the franchise, Francona quickly came into town and eventually accepted the position.

"Two main reasons I'm here today -- Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti," said Francona at his first presser as Tribe manager. "I value their guidance and leadership. I know we have challenges, but I looked forward to facing them united ... as a we."

Needless to say it's been a great relationship to this day.

2. The Year One Clinch

The Tribe acquired some talent in year one that gave them a shot to do some damage in the division and make a playoff run late in the season.

Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn came aboard, Mike Avilés and Yan Gomes were acquired from the Blue Jays, as were Trevor Bauer, Bryan Shaw, and Matt Albers from Arizona.

In the end the new talent ended up paying off, as the team went 92-70, a whopping 24-game improvement over the previous year.

While there were bumps in the road, the team went wild in September when it counted, going 21-6 in the month including a 10-game winning streak to close the season that led them to clinching a home wild card game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

While they lost that game 4-0, it was still a memorable run and the team felt they were ready to make even bigger strides moving forward with Francona and a young roster.

To no surprise, Francona was named the AL Manager of the Year.

3. Building a Foundation

Under Francona, the Indians have built one of the most steady lineups and rotations in baseball, and primarily have done it with young players already on the roster.

Sure they've gone out and gotten the guys like Swisher, Bourn and more recently Edwin Encaracion and Yonder Alonso, but by in large the roster the team rolls out is guys they have developed through their minor league system who have earned their way on the roster.

Jose Ramirez is a prime example, coming to the team as a 17-year-old and making his debut with the big league Indians in September of 2013.

While it took Ramirez some time and plenty of growing pains, he's turned into one of the best players in baseball.

Francisco Lindor is another story, basically becoming a star from day one when he showed up with the Tribe as a first-round pick in 2011, making his debut in 2015 after the team made some bold roster moves dealing the likes of Swisher and Bourn to the Atlanta Braves.

Since then all Lindor has done is hit a career .294 with 83 homers and has been the best shortstop the team has had since Omar Vizquel.

With Francona as manger, the team has also built a dangerous rotation, with two-time Cy Young Award Winner Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, and newer faces like Mike Clevinger and more recently Shane Bieber shutting down teams.

While Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff have helped to give Francona the groceries, he's been the chef that has delivered some delicious meals the last few years with the young talent on the Tribe.

4. All the Way to Game Seven

In what many consider the greatest run in Indians history, the team in 2016 went 94-67, earning the second seed in the American League and winning the AL Central, setting up a historic run to the World Series.

They stunned Francona's old team the Red Sox with a sweep, and then in five games took care of the Blue Jays to set up a memorable meeting with the Chicago Cubs in the Fall Classic.

The Tribe won game one at home, lost game two, and then won two games in Wrigley to go up 3-1 and needing one game to win it all.

That's when things got sticky, as they lost the next two including a deflating game six at home when Josh Tomlin was snake bitten by some poor defense in the first inning by Tyler Naquin, setting up a classic game seven the next night at Progressive Field.

The Cubs didn't wait long to jump on Corey Kluber, building a 5-1 lead in the 6th inning before the Indians put on a classic rally, led by one of the greatest moments in team history, a two-run blast by Rajai Davis with two outs in the 8th inning to tie the game at six.

After some tense moments in the 9th, the Indians had a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning, but didn't get it done, and after a bizarre rain delay, the Tribe's fate was sealed as the Cubs scored two in the 10th and won the game and title 8-7.

Again Francona took home the AL Manager of the Year award despite the heartbreak of losing to the Cubs, and to this day fans still remember how much fun it was watching the team make a run that no one could have predicted to get within two runs of a title.

5. Let's Do 22

Last season the Indians seemed to have a letdown after the draining World Series that didn't conclude until November 2nd, and on July 19th the team was just a half game up on the Twins in the AL Central sitting at 48-45.

A team meeting took place, and with it the team regained its focus and played better than any other team in the Majors the rest of the season, going 54-15 the rest of the way to finish the year 102-60, best in the American League.

With it came a win streak that started on Thursday August 24th with a 13-6 win over the Red Sox, and lasted until Thursday September 14th, as the team topped the Royals 3-2 in 10 innings at Progressive Field.

During the 22-game win streak, the team recorded seven shutouts, scored over 10 runs six times, and outscored their opponents 141 to 37 - that's a plus 104 in runs over 22 games.

It was a crazy turnaround and the way that Francona handled it was even better - one game at a time, never willing to look ahead or behind.

After the win streak ended the team was just as impressive, going 11-4 in their final 15 games to end up with 102 wins, again thanks to Francona keeping the ship steady when some people felt they were ready to would sink.