Indians 9-Game Losing Streak; A Lesson in Futility

The Indians have been crushed this season with injuries, and it's finally caught up to them. The team has dropped nine in a row, and now sit at .500 at 42-42, 8 games behind the Chicago White Sox. Can they get back on track? It's not going to be easy as the team still has key players hurting right now.

Picture this…

The Cleveland Indians are 42-33 after a blowout 13-5 win over the Detroit Tigers on Monday, June 28. Things are certainly looking up for Tribe fans after that big win in Cleveland.

Little did anyone know that would be the last win for a long, long time. The Indians would go on to lose nine-straight games to push their record to even at 42-42.

At eight games back of the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central Standings, it’s certainly not looking good. Moreover, the Indians are 5.5 games back of the AL Wild Card, too.

Here is a look at all of the losses:

vs. Detroit: 9-4

vs. Detroit: 7-1

vs. Houston: 7-2

vs. Houston: 6-3

vs. Houston: 3-2

vs. Houston: 4-3 (10 innings)

@ Tampa Bay: 8-1

@ Tampa Bay: 4-0

Thus, this is a combined score of 48-16.

What happened to this team that was primarily in contention for the first half of the season until that awful losing streak occurred?

Truly, and this is cliche to say, yet it’s a combination of lack of offense and poor pitching. Look at the 32-run score differential in the losing streak.

The team is unable to score any reasonable amount of runs in addition to giving up large amounts to the opposition. That is the recipe for failure...

Manager Terry Francona is going to have to straighten everything out before this team looks to make any type of run towards the back-end of this season. The Tribe is not 100% out of the race, but after a stretch

such as the aforementioned streak, it’s going to take a real transition and lots of changes.

The Indians were also no-hit by Tampa Bay in that final 4-0 loss. However, it was a seven-inning game due to it being a double-header. That’s another stain to this streak, certainly.

Well, the first step is to simply get back on the winning track against the Kansas City Royals at home for four games. Then, go from there and make an attempt to contend through the back parts of the year.