Here are 26 Walk-Off Thoughts after the Indians took down the Chicago Cubs 7-2 in Game 4 on Saturday night at Wrigley Field to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the World Series.
1. The Indians are one win away from pulling this off, from winning it all without three of their best players who all rank among the best in the league at their position, from giving Cleveland the type of dream year that even the most die-hard of fans wouldn’t have dared to think up in their sleep.
2. The Indians have ignored the expectations and the odds and the attention not paid to them this series. They’re playing without two Cy Young contenders and a former MVP finalist, which means they’re nowhere near full strength.
3. And, so far, they’ve ruined the party at Wrigley. This was supposed to be the Cubs’ magical year. The year that the lovable losers steamrolled their way through October as baseball’s powerhouse and ended the 108-year drought. And the team they face is the one that wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place? It couldn’t have been set up any better on paper.
4. Except, twice, the Indians silenced a crowd wanting so badly to explode. Corey Kluber and Andrew Miller have been nearly untouchable. Josh Tomlin has given the Indians a lift. Cody Allen and Bryan Shaw have both been strong options behind Miller. The offense has struggled a bit but came through Saturday night, coming back from a first-inning deficit and slamming the door late with Jason Kipnis’ three-run home run.
5. Now, they need one more. But they’re expecting a fight for it, particularly from a team that was seen as baseball’s best for most of the year.
6. “[It’s] not an ending yet,” Kipnis said. “We’ve got one more to get and that’s probably going to be the hardest victory of the year. But this is a special night for me and this team. To take the first two here --- now we’ve got a couple tries to win one more. We’re ready to get it. But this is a fun one.”
7. Only six teams in baseball history have come back from a 3-1 deficit in the World Series in 47 tries. It hasn’t happened since 1985. It hasn’t happened in which the trailing team would need to clinch on the road since 1979. But, then again, the Cavaliers proved in June that those numbers don’t always mean much.
8. “It’s not going to be easy, but we like where we’re at,” Miller said. “We have a lot of confidence in our guys, we have a lot of ways we can win games, and we’re excited to get Trevor back on the mound. I think he probably had a little rust to knock off after having a pretty big layoff outside of about 20 pitches in that game in Toronto, it’s going to be fun. They’ve got Jon Lester going. He’s as good of a postseason pitcher as there is, you can’t say that enough. But we’ll be ready to go.”
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9. Added Kipnis, “It's been done before, it can happen. So there's no reason to stop now the things that we've been doing. The last couple of series we've kind of jumped out to leads and we've talked about the same things, not letting them in because we've probably faced three of the tougher lineups in baseball. They're not lineups you want to give momentum. They're not teams who want to start feeling good about themselves. So the best thing to do is kind of put them away before they can do that.”
10. Corey Kluber is having one of the best postseasons for starting pitcher in baseball history. He’s now allowed only three earned runs in 30 1/3 innings pitched. Among pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched in a single postseason, his 0.89 ERA is second all-time, bested only by the Dodgers’ Burt Hooton in 1981. And Kluber’s 35 strikeouts put him in a tie with Orel Hershiser in 1995 for the Indians’ franchise record in a single postseason. The 35 strikeouts also put him ninth all-time.
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11. Kluber is a Cy Young Award winner and the unquestioned leader of a talented starting rotation. This October, though, he’s doing things only a few pitchers in history have ever done on this stage. He’s put his name among some of baseball’s elite in postseason history.
12. Said Kipnis, “He hasn't gotten his due. He's won a Cy Young and he still isn't necessarily a household name. I don't think he's going to have to worry about that any more. He's one of the better ones around. We've gotten to see it for a couple years now. He does all the little things you want in a pitcher. He doesn't walk people, he competes, he fields his position, keeps his composure, he doesn't blame anything on his defense. Add that to his repertoire with how nasty he is, he's exactly what you want out of an ace.”
13. Two of Kluber’s last three starts have also come on short rest, the first time he’s ever attempted to do that. Added Kipnis, “ I don’t think people appreciate how hard it is to come back on three days rest and I’m happy on this kind of stage he’s finally getting the recognition he’s due. There’s a lot of people even after his Cy Young Award that really don’t know much about him. He’s one of the best pitchers. I’ve seen him for years and I’m happy people are finally starting to notice.”
14. If the Cubs do force a Game 7, they’ll have to go up against Kluber again. At this rate, that seems to be a demoralizing proposition.
15. It was about as demoralizing as a situation the Cubs found themselves in during one of their best traditions. Vince Vaughn sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame during Game 4 to try to rally the crowd. Except, it came right after Kipnis belted a three-run home run to make it 7-1 and just as Miller was warming up to enter the game. It was a fun moment, but not with much hope.
16. Miller worked two innings and was hit for a home run off the bat of Dexter Fowler. He’s thrown 17 innings and hadn’t given up a run in the postseason yet. He also struck out two hitters to give him 29 this October, which set a new record for relievers. And he says he’s surely available in Game 5 if the Indians have a lead with a chance to win it all.
17. Said Miller, “Unless something unforeseen happens, I better be available tomorrow. I think this is what it’s all about. This is what we’ve worked so hard, all 25 guys that are here, to get in these games. I’ll do everything I can, I’ll take care of myself, I’ll get some rest and expect to be ready to go and have a full workload.”
18. The one big-decision button Indians manager Terry Francona pushed on Saturday was to start Carlos Santana at first base instead of Mike Napoli. And, again, Francona was right. Santana delivered a game-tying solo home run in the second inning that meant the Cubs’ lead lasted all of one batter.
19. Francona is also now 11-1 all-time in the World Series and 38-20 in the postseason, which is the highest winning percentage (.655) of any manager with at least 50 postseason games managed. And the Indians have completely bought in to anything he’s tried.
20. Said Miller, “His hands are on everything, from the climate to the clubhouse to moves that are made in the games are obviously his decisions, and just he’s really good at what he does. We’re a good ball club, but he has a lot of impact on the outcome of games and the outcome of the season. I think it’s a credit to him and his track record speaks pretty clearly to that. … Guys buy in. Obviously, that’s what it takes to win this time of year. You’ve got to have a lot of stuff go right. He’s done that. He certainly, he’s made the right decisions and guys have gone out and the buy-in in the clubhouse has helped stuff that execute in a sense. Ultimately, we have 25 guys that are committed to whatever he says goes.”
21. Francona has played a major role in keeping the clubhouse loose, which has apparently worked for the Indians this postseason. Several guys enjoy his joking manner, that he often keeps things light. Perhaps it’s why the Indians have been able to respond so well to a tough injury situation and the constant underdog label. It’s trickled down to the clubhouse.
22. Said Kipnis, “This whole playoff run because of the team and the guys we've got in here, it's just been easier on us, and easier on guys like me, where the situations never got too big because the guys were having too much fun in the dugout, and everyone's at ease and playing loose. So there's no real any reason to tighten up. I think that's actually helped me the most.”
23. It was a breakout night for Kipnis at just the right time. He had struggled this postseason even before spraining his ankle in Toronto and then had a two-error game in Game 2. Kipnis doubled and later scored on an RBI-single off the bat of Lindor and then drilled a three-run home run in the seventh that effectively ended the game.
24. It was a special night for him on a couple of levels. One, it helped to lift the frustrations of a slow October. Two, it came in front of his family and friends who were able to see the Chicago native help to do just what he always dreamed of doing—it just so happened that it came in a different uniform.
25. “We’re baseball players. This is what we live for,” Kipnis said. “This kind of stage is what we all dream about. And to be able to do it for me personally with my family and friends here, I was smiling ear-to-ear on the inside. But I still had a job. It was just nice personally to help out this offense finally and help out this staff and not put the pressure on them with our low-scoring wins --- they actually got some breathing room.”
26. The Indians will wake up on Sunday with a chance to win the World Series after a nightmarish September appeared to put any hope of a postseason run in doubt. Cleveland waited 52 years for a championship. The city might only have to wait four months for its second. The Indians are one win away from a World Series title.