The Cleveland Indians’ 22 game winning streak lasting from August 23rd, 2017 to September 14th, 2017 was one of the longest regular season win streaks in the history of Major League Baseball. It set a new record for the longest such streak in the American League, tied the 1880 Chicago White Stockings and the 1935 Chicago Cubs for the second longest winning streak, and came up just four games short of matching the 26 set by the 1916 New York Giants, which remains to this day as the longest winning streak in baseball history.
However, this type of winning streak obviously did not just happen. At the time of the start of the winning streak, the Indians were already having a really good season, leading the American League Central, hanging around third through fifth in the overall league standings, and appearing poised to make another run at the World Series championship that they had come so close to one year ago. Yet at the same time, many of the teams that the Indians played during this streak were not having good seasons themselves, as the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees were the only teams the Indians played during this stretch that finished above the .500 mark in win percentage at the end of the season. Be that as it may, it took every player on the team working together to make it happen, however it is hard to tell, at a glance, exactly which players contributed how much. This is why I wanted to count down the top five Cleveland Indians players from the 22 game win streak.
First, some explanation about the criteria used to decide the best players for each game: Basically, if the Indians scored higher than the league average runs scored per game of 4.7 (from the 2016 season), essentially five runs or more, then the player chosen is the one that had the most RBI from that game. If they had two or more players tied, the tiebreaker is the one of them that had the most runs scored. However, if the Indians scored four or fewer runs, then the pitcher who threw the most innings in that game would be chosen. With that being said, let’s get started:
5. #43 Josh Tomlin, 4 ER, 10.2 IP
Tomlin earned player of the game honors in two of his three starts during the winning streak, and even in his third start he didn’t too badly there either, only allowing one run over six innings. Tomlin was able to come through in the clutch, keeping the win streak alive in two games where the offense scored less than five runs, including what was to be the final game of the streak. Tomlin allowed just four earned runs over 10 and two-thirds total innings, or .392 runs allowed per inning. To put this in perspective, .8 runs per inning would be considered a pretty good rating to have, meaning Tomlin put the Indians in a much better position to win than most other pitchers would have during that stretch.
4. #11 Jose Ramirez, 5 RBI
In the two games that Ramirez was the Most Valuable Player, Ramirez drove in a total of five RBIs for the Indians, or .278 RBI per inning that he played. Also during the course of the 22 games played, Ramirez was able to increase his season batting average from .298 to .314, which eventually became .318 at season’s end, however during the streak alone his average was an astounding .405.
3. #10 Edwin Encarnacion, 5 RBI
Like Ramirez, Encarnacion had five RBIs over the streak as well, however his batting average was almost 50 points lower than Ramirez’s at the time of the beginning of the streak at .250. While his batting average did not improve much, only gaining a net of two points at the end, Enarnacion hit six home runs for the Indians, moving his slugging up from .483 to .500.
2. #47 Trevor Bauer, 3 ER, 10.1 IP
Bauer won what was probably the two toughest games to keep the streak alive in, the 2-1 victory over the Yankees and the 3-2 win over the Orioles. However, Bauer also did much more than that, allowing an impressive three runs over 10 and one-third innings, or just .297 runs per inning. This is yet another impressive stat for an Indians pitcher, who had six different pitchers take a turn at game MVP honors.
1. #7 Yan Gomes, 7 RBI
While there were definitely a number of good choices for the #1 slot this time around, Gomes’ seven RBIs played a big role in swinging the momentum of games that could have ended up much differently. While the two games that he was the game MVP for were blowout games, had he not come through with the runners in scoring position, those games could have gone vastly different ways for the Indians and there may not even have been a winning streak to speak of.
Players by Game
Aug. 24 vs. BOS (13-6)- 39 Giovanny Urshela-3B (4 RBI)
Aug. 25 vs. KC (4-0)- 54 Ryan Merritt- P (0 ER, 6.2 IP)
Aug. 26 vs. KC (4-0)- 52 Mike Clevinger- P (0 ER, 6 IP)
Aug. 27 vs. KC (12-0)- 7 Yan Gomes- C (4 RBI)
Aug. 28 @ NYY (6-2)- 11 Jose Ramirez- 2B (2 RBI)
Aug. 30 @ NYY (9-4)- 10 Edwin Encarnacion- 1B (2 RBI, 2 RS)
Aug. 30 @ NYY (2-1)- 47 Trevor Bauer- P (1 ER, 6 IP)
Sept. 1 @ DET (3-2)- 59 Carlos Carrasco- P (1 ER, 7 IP)
Sept. 2 @ DET (5-2)- 35 Abraham Almonte- LF (3 RBI)
Sept. 3 @ DET (11-1)- 11 Jose Ramirez- 2B (3 RBI)
Sept. 4 @ CHW (5-3)- 41 Carlos Santana- 1B (1 RBI, 2 RS)
Sept. 5 @ CHW (9-4)- 7 Yan Gomes- C (3 RBI)
Sept. 6 @ CHW (5-1)- 41 Carlos Santana- 1B (2 RBI)
Sept. 7 @CHW (11-2)- 9 Erik Gonzalez- 2B (4 RBI)
Sept. 8 vs. BAL (5-0)- 10 Edwin Encarnacion- DH (3 RBI)
Sept. 9 vs. BAL (4-2)- 43 Josh Tomlin- P (2 ER, 5 IP)
Sept. 10 vs. BAL (3-2)- 47 Trevor Bauer- P (2 ER, 6.1 IP)
Sept. 11 vs. DET (11-0)- 12 Francisco Lindor- SS (4 RBI)
Sept. 12 vs. DET (2-0)- 28 Corey Kluber- P (0 ER, 9 IP)
Sept. 13 vs. DET (5-3)- 32 Jay Bruce- RF (3 RBI)
Sept. 14 vs. KC (3-2/F10)- 43 Josh Tomlin- P (2 ER, 5.2 IP)
