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Despite the fact that the Cleveland Indians haven’t made the playoffs in the past couple seasons, they entered this year as a trendy pick to contend. In fact, more than a few tabbed the Tribe to win the AL Central in 2016.
The reasoning for this was simple – pitching. Cleveland’s rotation was one of the best in the majors last year, and it was returning in full this season. The bullpen wasn’t in the league’s top tier, but was good enough to keep the team in games. All in all, consensus belief was the Indians’ pitching would help alleviate the lack of offense and help guide the team back to the playoffs.
Four games is hardly enough of a sample size. However, in that time, the supposed backbone of the Tribe hasn’t looked up to par. Pitching is where Cleveland was expected to excel, but so far it’s been a weak spot for the team.
To date, the Indians are giving up an average of five runs per game. This stat was helped by yesterday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, when Cleveland starter Danny Salazar put forth a solid day on the mound and gave up only one run.
Other than Salazar, though, there have been more than a few shaky performances.
Corey Kluber, the Tribe’s ace, didn’t get his season off to the best start. He had his moments during the Opening Day matchup with the Boston Red Sox, but didn’t look anything like the pitcher who took home the Cy Young in 2014.
Cleveland’s other stud starter, Carlos Carrasco, also had just an average 2016 debut, giving up four runs in five innings. While Cody Anderson, the fourth man in the rotation, had a couple rough innings today against Chicago, he at least put his team in a position to take home a win late.
Unfortunately, the Indians’ bullpen couldn’t shut the door. Setup man Bryan Shaw got decimated by White Sox hitters, giving up five runs in one inning and essentially torpedoing Cleveland’s chances of pulling off a victory.
All in all, the Indians’ pitching staff has given up at least six runs in three of the four games played this year. For a team that needs solid pitching if it hopes to compete for a playoff spot, the opening results are a little concerning.
While Cleveland’s offense has looked decent early on, there simply aren’t enough weapons to keep up if the pitching staff is giving up this many runs on a daily basis. Quite frankly, it’s asking a lot of most teams to have to put up that many runs so often.
The good news is it’s still very early in the season, and there’s plenty of time for everyone to settle down. The Indians have unfortunately had to play every one of their games in weather which was either cold, rainy or a combination of the two. For all we know, the inclement conditions could have a hand in Cleveland’s pitchers not looking so sharp early on.
That said, the early-season struggles for the Indians’ pitching staff are definitely something to keep an eye on. If everyone is able to settle down, the team should be able to quickly get back on the right path.
However, if this is the beginning of a down year for Cleveland pitching, it could make for quite a rough summer for the team.
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