Indians, Reds off to solid starts
Well Major League Baseball is back and I can't believe it took me almost a week to talk about it. Throughtout my life this has always been my favorite sport, but for some reason the lack of success by the Reds combined with the emergence of college basketball, football and the NFL may have bumped my love of baseball down a notch. Or two. But as we look at the Major League Baseball season so far and the two Ohio teams, the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds, Ohio fans have got to be encouraged. Both teams have jumped out to a 3-1 start with 3 straight wins after an opening game loss.
Coming off a year where they almost made the playoffs, the Cleveland Indians have all kinds of expectations. Fans are thirsting for a winning teams that is once again "cool" to root for. I remember the days of seeing women in the stands at Jacobs Field with no purpose other than to be seen at the game. Meanwhile guys who didn't know the names of more than 3-5 players tried to talk about the Tribe while drinking yet another beer with their buddies. It was cool to be an Indians fan in the late 1990's; there was a certain sex appeal almost. But those days passed on when Bartolo and the gang got traded and a new strategy was put into place by GM Mark Shapiro. While the distrust from the fans is still existent, Shapiro, the 2005 MLB Executive of the Year, has proven that he knows what he is doing. Now it's just a matter of wins, I mean time, until the Tribe start to come closer to filling Jacobs Field up again with any regularity.
In the bottom corner of the state you have the Cincinnati Reds. A new ownership group (again) and a strong spring have fans buzzing in Cincinnati. But as a life-long, die-hard Reds fan I have to remain skeptical. I have watched teams like the Anaheim Angels of California, Los Angeles (or whatever their names have been) and the Florida Marlins win the World Series in the past few years and I can't help but wonder why that can't be the Reds. Well, on reason it cannot be the Reds is poor management from the top down. Honestly, I think the Reds are a few years away from having their farm system solidified with major league talent that can take the Reds where they want to be; the top of the NL Central.
So now both of our Ohio teams are 3-1, but neither is in first place. Go figure. Only in Ohio, right? Both teams start off strong and the story on ESPN.com is about how the Detroit Tigers (AL Central) and Milwaukee Brewers (NL Central) are both 4-0 and atop their respective divisions. Of course neither team has played top-notch competition as the Brewers have 3 wins over the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates and the Tigers have 2 wins over the Kansas City Royals, but a win is a win. It just figures that they'd both be stealing the headlines early while the Reds and Indians are just a game behind having faced tougher competition.
Coming off a year where they almost made the playoffs, the Cleveland Indians have all kinds of expectations. Fans are thirsting for a winning teams that is once again "cool" to root for. I remember the days of seeing women in the stands at Jacobs Field with no purpose other than to be seen at the game. Meanwhile guys who didn't know the names of more than 3-5 players tried to talk about the Tribe while drinking yet another beer with their buddies. It was cool to be an Indians fan in the late 1990's; there was a certain sex appeal almost. But those days passed on when Bartolo and the gang got traded and a new strategy was put into place by GM Mark Shapiro. While the distrust from the fans is still existent, Shapiro, the 2005 MLB Executive of the Year, has proven that he knows what he is doing. Now it's just a matter of wins, I mean time, until the Tribe start to come closer to filling Jacobs Field up again with any regularity.
In the bottom corner of the state you have the Cincinnati Reds. A new ownership group (again) and a strong spring have fans buzzing in Cincinnati. But as a life-long, die-hard Reds fan I have to remain skeptical. I have watched teams like the Anaheim Angels of California, Los Angeles (or whatever their names have been) and the Florida Marlins win the World Series in the past few years and I can't help but wonder why that can't be the Reds. Well, on reason it cannot be the Reds is poor management from the top down. Honestly, I think the Reds are a few years away from having their farm system solidified with major league talent that can take the Reds where they want to be; the top of the NL Central.
So now both of our Ohio teams are 3-1, but neither is in first place. Go figure. Only in Ohio, right? Both teams start off strong and the story on ESPN.com is about how the Detroit Tigers (AL Central) and Milwaukee Brewers (NL Central) are both 4-0 and atop their respective divisions. Of course neither team has played top-notch competition as the Brewers have 3 wins over the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates and the Tigers have 2 wins over the Kansas City Royals, but a win is a win. It just figures that they'd both be stealing the headlines early while the Reds and Indians are just a game behind having faced tougher competition.
posted by Luke @ 4/08/2006 09:30:00 AM
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