So Long, Chief. I’ve Found Someone New
July 14th, 2009 at 12:21 am by Displaced Cleveland Fan
Most of the time, when it comes to sports, I wish I had some way to watch my teams play. Living 500 miles from Cleveland, it’s not often that I can catch a game on TV. But this summer, I really don’t mind. The Indians are just having one of those years.
They should be better than this. They were one win away from the World Series in ‘07. Last year, after starting flat, they finished the year at .500. This year was supposed to be better.
But now we’ve finally come to the All-Star break. The Tribe has the worst record in the American League (35-54) and are 14 games out of first place in a weak Central Division. There is no hope for this team for this year. So I’m officially tuning them out, which is much easier to do than it would be if I was living up there. I am now looking forward to next year.
No more trying to keep up with the games. No more trying to figure out what the team needs to do to challenge the division leaders. I’m done. I’ll pay attention to trades and other roster moves, as they will affect next year. But I’m done following this season.
But it’s still summer. That means it’s still baseball season. So while I don’t have the Indians to follow, I do have the new Class-A minor league team here in town - the Bowling Green Hot Rods.
Yes, it’s only minor league. That’s fine. Sure, I don’t know who these players are. But with all the injuries and minor leaguers being called up, did I know all the Indians’ players? And you know what? The Hot Rods are a Class-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. And you know what else? I don’t care.
The Hot Rods are part of the South Atlantic League. This is also where the Lake County Captains play (the Indians’ Class-A affiliate). The way the schedule works, the season is divided up into 2 halves, so the standings are reset at the All-Star break. For the playoffs, the division winner from the first half plays the division winner in the second half. The winner plays for the league championship.
The Hot Rods finished the first half of the season in 7th place out of 8 teams. But they were only 2 games under .500 (34-36), which isn’t too bad. Since the start of the 2nd half, they’re playing much better. They’re currently in 2nd place in the Southern Division at 11-6 and are just 1 game out of first place. The team that’s currently ahead of them (Asheville) finished in last place in the first half. So the team definitely has a shot at the playoffs. That’s a lot more than the Indians have.
So farewell, Chief Wahoo. I’ll be back next year. But for now, I’m going to get to know the team here. No hard feelings.
