The Indians May Need To Reach Into The Old Bag Of Tricks To Beat The Yankees Tonight

Listen, this playing 9 on 9 thing is clearly not working out well for Cleveland. We saw that loud and clear last night. Our offense actually did their job better than expected, scoring well above our average and finishing with an astronomical 3 runs. But we threw our very best pitcher at the Yankees and he didn't even make it through 5 innings. It's very simple: for the Indians to win a baseball game, we need to hold the opponent to negative runs. We can't count on the offense to score, and we need our pitching to be better than perfect. And last night, that just didn't happen.

So here's the thing: we're now heading into Game 2 against the Evil Empire and if we lose, the season is over. We will have just wasted a Cy Young pitcher and a potential MVP third baseman. All to see our season end in the blink of an eye. I thought getting swept by Houston two years ago in three straight afternoon games was quick, but this, I mean you could've gone to bed early last night, slept in a bit today and missed the entire Indians postseason if we give up 2 runs in the first inning again tonight. Is this Lindor's last game? Did we really only get to see Bieber for 4 and 2/3 innings in the post season? I'm not saying we have to win the World Series, but an off day so we don't have to throw the first pitch and then be eliminated within 26 hours of each other would've been nice.

The fact of the matter is that tonight is too important to play nicely. We can't play by the rules tonight. I'm not saying we do anything rash like get out the trash cans or have cameras installed in center field pointed directly at the catchers signs, but I wouldn't mind if the Indians grounds crew team reached into their old bag of tricks and pull out a familiar tactic.

UNLEASH THE MIDGES!!!!

I didn't want to have to propose this until at least a potential game 3, and hopefully not even until the ALCS at minimum. But this is do or die tonight. Call back the only man on the entire planet that pitches BETTER when surrounded by a million little bugs, Roberto Hernandez (the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona), and let's watch these Yankees pitchers squirm tonight. I really think it's the only way. I mean, Tanaka has a 1.76 ERA over his last 8 playoff starts. So are we really banking on Carrasco holding this Yankee lineup to 1 run tonight? They had more than that through 4 pitches off Shane Bieber last night. Unleash the midges, Cleveland. It may be our only hope.