What Cleveland Indians Team Was the Best in the Last Decade?

Do you recall where you were on Monday, April 5 2010? That was the Cleveland Indians first game of the decade, a lackluster 6-0 loss in Chicago to the White Sox.

That day Jake Westbrook suffered the loss to White Sox ace Mark Buehrle, a hurler who had success over the years against the Tribe.

Since that 75 degree day in Chicago, the Indians have played 1609 regular season games, also taking part in 24 postseason games, bringing the total of the last decade to 1634 games the Indians have played in.

There’s been plenty of excitement brought forth by the men who wear Chief Wahoo, and they took their fans to the brink of baseball euphoria in 2016 when they and the Chicago Cubs played a classic seven-game set that saw the Indians fall in game seven by a score of 8-7 in 10 innings.

There also has been plenty of very good players that have come through the organization in that time, some that remain on the roster to this day.

When looking back at the decade of the Tribe, today we will look at the last 10 seasons, and try to identify what team was truly the best out of the last decade.

Here’s a complete run down over the last 10 seasons of the team, their record, where they ended in the division and who the manager was.

2010 65-93 4 in division Manny Acta

2011 80-82 2 in division Manny Acta

2012 68-94 4 in division Manny Acta (Sandy Alomar last six games after Acta’s firing)

2013 92-70 2 in division Terry Francona

2014 85-77 3 in division Terry Francona

2015 81-80 3 in division Terry Francona

2016 94-67 1 in division Terry Francona

2017 102-60 1 in division Terry Francona

2018 91-71 1 in division Terry Francona

2019 93-65 2 in division Terry Francona

2010 – The season didn’t see many happy moments for the Wahoo’s, as they put up their worst record of the decade, going 65-93, 28 games under .500.

One of the few bright spots on offense was outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who hit .300 with 22 homers and 90 runs batted in with 22 stolen bases.

Roberto Hernandez, who fans may know more as Fausto Carmona, led the team in wins with 13, as he went 13-14 with a 3.77 ERA. Mitch Talbot won 10 games to go along with 14 losses.

Their best pitcher through had to be closer Chris Perez, who went 2-2 with 23 saves and an excellent ERA of 1.71. Overall though it was a season to forget.

2011 – After a 65-win season in 2010, the team played much better in 2010, as they won 80 games, going 80-82 and finishing second in the AL Central.

Chris Antonetti took over in October 2010 as the team’s new general manager. On the field the team was led by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit .273 with 25 homers and 92 RBI with 17 steals.

Carlos Santana hit a team-high 27 homers, but his average suffered most of the year, and he ended 2011 hitting .239.

Chris Perez had his second straight solid season, saving 36 games with a 3.32 ERA. Two of the team’s starters each won 12 games, Josh Tomlin (12-7) and Justin Masterson (12-10).

The season may best be remembered as the club started 21-9, and sat at 30-15 after a win over Boston on May 23, only to struggle badly after the All-Star break.

2012 – It was the swan song for manager Manny Acta, who was dismissed with six games left in the regular season. The club went 68-94, with the team falling apart in the second half of the year going 24-53 after going 44-41 in the first half.

On offense seven players hit 10 or more homers, with Carlos Santana leading the way with 18 homers and an average of .252. Shin-Soo Choo hit .283 with 16 homers and 67 runs batted in.

Jason Kipnis one of the young bright spots as a starter, hitting .257 with 14 homers, 76 RBI and 31 steals after playing in 36 games the year before.

Acta’s firing gave way to Sandy Alomar to manage the final six games of the season, and he was also one of the top candidates to be the full-time manager when 2013 began.

2013 – Terry Francona was named the Indians manager and was introduced as the club’s manager on October 8, 2012.

He quickly brought a new attitude and with offseason free agent pickups Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn the team rallied to win their last 10 games to end the season 92-70 and one of the two wild cards in the American League.

The team fell to the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field 4-0 in the AL Wild Card game, but overall there was excitement again with the franchise.

10 players hit 10 or more homers, four starters in the rotation won 10 or more games, and Chris Perez again was good out of the pen with 25 saves.

2014 – The team ended the season eight games over .500 at 85-77, but finished third in the division and struggles and inconsistent play led to the team not getting back to the postseason.

The big bright spot on offense was Michael Brantley, a ‘player to be named later’ in the 2008 deal that saw the Indians send C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers. Brantley hit a team-high .327 with 20 homers and 97 RBI.

The other 2014 bright spot was Corey Kluber, who came on to capture the first of two Cy Young awards with the Tribe, going 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA

2015 – The Indians again failed to make the postseason under Francona, as they suffered a number of key injuries throughout the season, and the team made some tough decisions trading away some key veterans to get the roster younger and maybe more hungry for the future.

The big deal came in early August when the Tribe sent Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn along with $15 million to the Atlanta Braves.

The move was done to clear up playing time for young players, as well as to send a message that not playing at your best was not going to be tolerated.

The other big move was the callup of youngster Francisco Lindor, who hit .313 in 99 games with 12 homers.

2016 – From a memorable perspective this has to rate as the best of the decade, as the team went all the way to extra innings in game seven of the World Series, only to fall 8-7 to the Chicago Cubs in one of the most memorable games in MLB history.

The club got hot right at the right time, going 18-11 in September and October to wrap up the regular season.

In the postseason with a beat up rotation Terry Francona and the coaching staff pushed all the right buttons. They went to the bullpen early and often, and the threesome of Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen dominated the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays.

The Indians swept the Sox 3-0, and then won four of five over the Jays to make it to the Fall Classic. They took a 3-1 lead on the heavily favored Cubs, but the overused pen and the beat up rotation couldn’t close it out, which led to a game seven classic at Progressive Field.

It’s hard to argue that there was a moment more memorable than Rajai Davis hitting a two-out, two-run homer in the 8 inning to tie the game at six.

2017 – The focused Indians took a good portion of the season to find themselves, but once they did they were the best team in the American League, taking home the top seed as the postseason began.

The club spent in the offseason as they inked slugger Edwin Encarnacion to a four-year deal, and many felt this young team was ready to take the next step and win a championship.

The team sat at 70-56 on August 24, and that night they defeated the Red Sox in Fenway Park by a score of 13-6.

What no one could have seen coming was the fact the team didn’t lose again until September 15, putting up an American League record 22-game win streak that cemented them as the best team in the division and many felt in the entire American League.

They defeated the New York Yankees in games one and two of the ALDS at Progressive Field, but then the club ran into a buzz saw in New York, as everything went the Yankees way, forcing a fifth and ‘winner take all’ game five at Progressive Field.

Corey Kluber struggled (again) in game five, as the Yankees took a 3-0 lead after three innings, and while the Tribe closed it to 3-2, they never got the lead before losing 5-2.

It was a stunning end to a season where many felt they would be the last man standing in the Fall Classic after 102 regular season wins.

2018 – With little competition in the AL Central, the Indians won the division by 13 games, going 91-71 and again looking poised for a long playoff run.

The club traded for slugger Josh Donaldson in August, which many felt would be the deal that put them over the top.

Instead, the move just delayed the inevitable, as despite 91 wins they were no match for the AL West Champion Houston Astros, and the team lost games one and two in Houston in the ALDS.

While they talked a good game prior to game three with thoughts of winning two at home themselves to force a game five, they again were steamrolled, as the Astros scored 10 runs over the last three innings to complete the sweep with an 11-3 win.

After two straight playoff failures changes were coming in 2019, as the team cut payroll and said ‘good-bye’ to popular outfielder Michael Brantley, who left to play in Houston.

2019 – The club was hit as hard as any in the 2010’s when it came to injuries, which turned out in some ways to be a blessing, as the club found a number of young arms in the minors who stepped up and pitched much better than expected.

The Indians also were the hosts for the 2019 MLB All-Star Game, and for the second game in a row in Cleveland an Indian won the MVP, as starter Shane Bieber took home the MVP hardware after striking out the side in one inning of work.

Back on the field the team fell behind the Minnesota Twins by double digits for the division lead, but rallied all the way back and led Minnesota by a half game on August 12 after a walk-off homer by Carlos Santana.

It wasn’t enough, as the injuries were just too much along with younger players maybe running out of gas in the last month, and the team went 14-12 in September, but lost the division title to the Twins.

They were in the running for a wild card until the final weekend of the season, but the team lost six of their last eight games, and were knocked out of the postseason for the first time since 2015.