This past Friday, the Kansas City Royals snapped one of the most historic winning streaks in sports history by defeating the Cleveland Indians, ending their winning streak at an American League record 22 games. Despite this, the Indians bounced back by winning their last two games against the Royals (Saturday and Sunday) to officially clinch the AL Central Division for the second straight year. Cleveland now has the best record in baseball and are likely, barring an earth-shattering meltdown, to have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Their historic streak has drastically increased their chances to advance deep into the MLB Playoffs this year after their World Series heartbreak last year against the Cubs. However, the question remains, have they run out of gas for the postseason?

​

As far as the winning streak goes, man was it ever impressive? The Indians almost went an entire month without losing, with their last loss before Friday coming at the hands of the Boston Red Sox on August 23. During that streak, the Indians outscored their opponents by 105 runs, gained 9 more games over the Twins in the AL Central, swept 2 doubleheaders, broke Sportstime Ohio’s ratings records, compiled a .306 team batting average, and their pitchers compiled a 1.58 ERA. And it is not like the Indians were just slipping by; 13 of their 22 wins came with a run difference of 4 or more. The MVPs of this streak have to be Jose Ramirez, Carlos Santana, Mike Clevenger, and Carlos Carrasco. Ramirez compiled a .423 average with 19 extra base hits, 8 of those being home runs. Veteran first baseman Carlos Santana hit at an average of .365 whilst increasing his home run total to 23 on the year, 13 of those being after the All-Star Break. Starting pitcher Mike Clevenger allowed 1 earned run in four total starts, pitching 18 straight scoreless innings along the way and allowing only a .159 batting average to opposing hitters. The ever consistent Carlos Carrasco additionally performed well, going over 200 K’s on the year and compiling a 0.62 ERA during the streak. The Indians are seemingly maintaining pace with the rest of the AL after the winning streak, suggesting that they will go into the playoffs strong and make a deep run, perhaps at another World Series. Only time will tell whether the Indians have their best days of the year behind them.

​

On the flip side, the Los Angeles Dodgers have had the wheels fall off the wagon in the past few weeks. The Dodgers fell into an 11-game losing streak and a 1-16 stretch about a week and a half ago, which has since ended, but is still cause for concern in LA. Historically, a good September for the best teams in baseball has translated to early elimination in October, so this may not be too much of a concern; still though, it is still fun to discuss and debate whether this will impact the pennant race. During the 1-16 stretch, the Dodgers lost 11.5 games on their National League West lead, going from a 21-game lead in late August to a 9.5-game lead as of September 17th. When the streak was at 10 games, the Dodgers pitching staff had an ERA over 6.4, hit under .200, and were 0-7 at their homestand, their first ever winless homestand of 6 games or more at Dodger Stadium. They did clinch a playoff berth last Tuesday after a 5-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants, but if their lack of clutch hitting and pitching heading into October continues, it could be a brief playoff run for the “Boys of Summer” in the City of Angels.