During the baseball season, two teams dominate the national sports headlines: the Yankees and the Red Sox and for good reason. They have the two largest fans bases in the country, they are fierce rivals, and both teams are legitimate contenders for the World Series crown. Due to the media bias towards these two franchises, no one is talking about the surging Cleveland Indians. However, just because this small market team receives little attention nationally, does not mean that they are not among the elite in the American League and all of baseball. It is time that the Indians finally got the recognition they deserve nationally, because this team will be a force during the playoffs.

It seems like it was just yesterday that Cleveland and Detroit were in a virtual tie for the Central division and it appeared that it would come down to the final week of the regular season to determine the winner. Then the Tribe got hot. Of their last 16 games, the Indians have won 13. What is even more frightening for opponents is that the seemingly dormant offense has finally woken from its month-long slumber.  With the Indians swinging the bats similar to the vaunted offense of a year ago, this team appears to be hitting its stride at the most opportune time. The offense was the major weakness for the Tribe for a major portion of the season, and this team would be nowhere had it not been for the starting rotation which has carried the Indians all year.

Pitchers such as Josh Beckett and Roger Clemens may receive more publicity but is there a better trio of pitchers than C.C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, and Paul Bird? Both Sabathia and Carmona have lower ERAs than Josh Beckett who many believe to be the front-runner to win the Cy Young award. Together, the trio has combined for 46 wins. In the short five-game ALDS, these three starters would be a formidable test for whichever team the Indians might face. The Red Sox and Angels have talented rotations of their own, but with the resurgence of the offense, the Indians match-up favorably with both teams.   

The best possible match-up for the Indians, however, is with the media-darling Yankees. The Yankees have scored more runs than any team in baseball this year – a full 40 runs better than the next most prolific offense. You know a line-up is stacked when the No. 8 hitter, Robinson Cano, has a batting average of .302. So why do the Indians match up so well with the Bronx Bombers? It’s simple. The Yankees do not have championship caliber starting pitching. Roger Clemens should have stayed retired and Mike Mussina is finally starting to look his age. The only two solid starters the Yankees have had all year are Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang.

Since the Yankees last World Series title, they have continued to have great regular-season success while putting up huge offensive numbers. Unfortunately for Yankees fans, the team has followed an equally predictable pattern of postseason failure due to a lack of quality starting pitching. Though the Yankees did sweep the six-game season series from the Indians this year, the Tribe may still have the advantage in this potential match-up because, in the playoffs, pitching is the name of the game.

The X-factor in the Postseason could be the Indians manager, Eric Wedge. He has to be the frontrunner for the American League Manager of the Year and if he’s not he should be. What other manager took his team from a less-than-stellar 78-84 and molded them in to a very impressive 83-60 record through 143 games? Notwithstanding Wedge’s regular season success, he has never managed in a single postseason game. How successful will he be? He has been widely criticized in Cleveland for his unwillingness to play “small ball” in certain situations, such as putting on the hit-and-run or bunting runners over in order to put them in scoring position. These fundamental baseball plays are crucial in short playoff series when every run is at a premium. The other likely playoff teams, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels, all have proven managers with World Series titles under their belts. Wedge cannot afford to be out-managed in the playoffs if the Indians are to win their first World Series title since 1948.

Despite the season-long success of the Indians and their potential to make a deep run into the playoffs, it has been a struggle to put fans into the seats. For whatever reason they have just not embraced this team. Granted, the struggling economy in Cleveland may be a factor, but it is pathetic when Jacobs Field is often half-full for a first-place team. It is hard to believe this is the same fan base that set a major league record for consecutive sellouts with 455. Even the Marlins would be embarrassed by the fan support that the Tribe has received this year. Cleveland fans come out in droves to support the pathetic Browns that still resemble an expansion franchise six years after their return to the NFL. Cleveland may always be a football town, but it also has some of the best fans in all of sports, and it is time that they give the Indians the love they deserve.

Please ESPN, if the Indians beat the beloved Red Sox or Yankees in the postseason, do not go on and on about how these two storied franchises choked. This Indians team is for real. If they win, they deserved to win. A World Series title would be no accident. If this team does not break through this year, it will in the years to come. More important than adoration from the national media, it is time for Indians fans to rally behind this team. The Indians have a chance to win the first professional sports championship for the city of Cleveland since the Browns accomplished this feat in 1964. To borrow from the Cavaliers postseason motto, it is time to “Rise Up” Indians fans!