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Home - Baseball Betting
2006 Cleveland Indians
Predictions
A lot of
people are giving high marks for their 2006 Cleveland Indians
predictions, but we say proceed with caution. The
Indians are the most improved team in baseball over the past 2
seasons. They improved 12 wins from 2003 to 2004 and they totaled 93
wins last season for a 13 game improvement from the previous year.
Cleveland decided to rebuild their team with young talent and it has
paid off. This could possibly be the year that they break the hump and
get back to their former glory, but they are going to have to get
through the defending World Champion Chicago White Sox.
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With the way the Indians came on strong to test the White Sox at the end
of last season, many feel Cleveland can take the division. They don’t
appear to have any big Achilles heals, but I’m not sure their pitching
staff is quite good enough to win a division title and their streaky
home play and difficulty with left handed pitching could be the sign of
reaching a plateau in 2006. The loss of Kevin Millwood and Scott
Elarton could harm this team that had the lowers ERA in the American
League last summer. CC Sabathia is the team’s ace and they are hoping
that he will finally mature into the ace that the team is hoping for.
Paul Byrd and Cliff Lee are also quality guys who should help this team
have a much more successful season. The bullpen does have a nice anchor
with reliable Bob Wickman, but the rest of the relievers might be a
little questionable and cause some problems by blowing leads. Time will
tell how they pan out.
This young, Cleveland team was surprisingly unstoppable on the road last
season posting a 50-31 mark. However, they were just 43-38 at home for a
loss of 13 units. Although I don’t think they can have the same road
success they did last season, I think they will still be a solid road
team and they will improve immensely at home. With another year of
maturity, Cleveland’s young guns will do a better job of defending their
home turf by being more disciplined at the plate. Travis Hafner is a
great DH with a lot of power and ability to drive runs in. Grady
Sizemore was signed to an impressive contract this off season and will
be anxious to show the Cleveland faithful that he was worth every
penny. Jhonny Peralta and Victor Martinez are two additional young
hitters who have plenty of power and will help the Indians get plenty of
runs across the plate.
Like the Chicago White Sox, the Tribe also struggled against south paws
in 2005. They won just 50 of 108 games the past 2 seasons versus lefties
as opposed to their 122-93 record versus righties. It’s typical for
teams to struggle more versus lefties as they don’t see them quite as
often. Cleveland will have to get their extensive woes versus
left-handers figured out, however, if they want to make a playoff run
this season. Otherwise, if Cleveland gets behind in games, teams will be
able to dip into their bull pen early and keep them off balance with
left-handed relievers.
This article was written by Jimmy Boyd Pick up his
Baseball Betting Picks
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