WASHINGTON — The Cleveland Indians, seeking their first crown since 1948, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose title drought only dates to 1988, are the clubs to beat as the Major League Baseball playoffs begin.
Only last year, the Chicago Cubs ended the longest title drought in North American sports history, winning their first World Series crown since 1908 by defeating Cleveland in a dramatic seventh-game showdown.
Now the Indians, who unleashed an American League (AL)-record 22-game win streak, are back in the playoffs and with the AL’s best record at 102-60, the second-most season wins in club history. Now they own baseball’s longest title drought.
The Indians boast one of baseball’s top pitchers in right-hander Corey Kluber, who went 18-4 with a majors-best 2.25 earned-run average and 265 strikeouts this season. And Tribe right-hander Carlos Carrasco of Venezuela went 18-6.
Indians outfielder Jay Bruce, who joined Cleveland at mid-season, could feel the hunger for another chance at the crown the minute he walked into the locker room.
While Cleveland lost the World Series to a team with a championship drought 40 years longer than their own, they could face a team whose title drought is 40 years shorter in the Dodgers, who led the major leagues with a 104-5.
And the Dodgers counter with a mound ace of their own in left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who went 18-4 with a National League (NL)-best 2.31 ERA, second only to Kluber in the majors, and 202 strikeouts. Los Angeles also features right-handed closer Kenley Jansen, whose 41 saves shared the NL best.
The playoffs open with two one-game wildcard showdowns between the best non-division winners — the New York Yankees entertain Minnesota on Tuesday in the American League while Colorado will visit Arizona on Wednesday.
The Yankees-Twins winner gets a best-of-five series against the Indians that opens at Cleveland on Thursday, the same day the Boston Red Sox visit Houston in the other American League semifinal series.
In the National League, the Colorado-Arizona winner visits the Dodgers to open their National League semi-final series while the defending champion Cubs travel to Washington for their opening matchup.
Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge led the AL with 52 home runs and his powerful hitting could spark the 27-time World Series champions to yet another deep playoff run.
Washington second baseman Daniel Murphy matched Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner at .322 to share third in the NL batting race and the Nationals also a formidable starting rotation of pitchers paced by right-handers Max Scherzer, 16-6 with a 2.51 ERA and 268 strikeouts, and Stephen Strasburg, 15-4 with a 2.52 ERA and 204 strikeouts.
Toss in lefty Gio Gonzalez, 15-9 with a 2.96 ERA, and Washington fans are dreaming of the US capitol’s first World Series berth since 1933 and first crown since 1924.
That includes two Washington clubs that relocated, becoming Minnesota and Texas, and 33 seasons with no team before the Montreal Expos moved to Washington for the 2005 campaign — a franchise that has not played in a World Series in its 48-year history. — AFP
