Goodbye Dr. Smooth

hello all and Happy New Year's Eve. as we're about to close the book on 2018, the time has come for me to finally say my goodbye to Michael Brantley. i don't want to, but i have to. i've written several goodbye blogs to former Cleveland Indians players in the past after they were traded or signed with another team as free agents, yet none were ever as hard for me to compose as this one. i'm still trying to accept the reality of how different everything's going to be next year and i'm simply not okay with it.😭

if you don't already know, Michael officially signed a two-year, $32 million deal with the Houston Astros on December 19. he parted ways with the Indians following a 10-year tenure because they weren't in a position to retain him. that was made clear five days after the World Series ended, on November 2, when they didn't even extend a one-year, $17.9 million qualifying offer to Michael, so he entered into free agency for the first time in his career. and it led him to the 'Stros.

Brantley's Career Situational #s & Statistics as an Indian

hi there, Brantley fans! i hope you had a good Christmas🎄 if that's a holiday you recognize and celebrate. i joked that Santa Claus delivered Tribe fans' present to Houston by mistake and now it's gonna be stuck there for the next two years...😞 sad, but true.

anyway, i'm back with the third and final piece of the Michael Brantley's career numbers with the Cleveland Indians series. this one is full of situational statistics--everyone's favorite, am i right? the layout of this blog mirrors that of my usual situational posts. here you will find Michael's batting averages and other numbers against right-handed and left-handing pitching, at home and on the road, with runners in scoring position, with runners on base, with the bases loaded, and with the bases empty. other stats included are his WAR, wRC+, BsR, UZR, and DRS. i also listed out Michael's numbers versus each AL Central Division team and every National League team he played against in his 10-year career. some of Michael's offensive league rankings and defensive league rankings have been archived as well. there's more miscellaneous stuff too, namely his season career highs, team leads, K rate, the types of outs he hit into, his best hitting streaks, and historical moments with the Indians. besides all that, i decided to add a few things i don't ordinarily highlight, those being

Brantley's Career Batting Order Position & LF/CF/PH/DH #s as an Indian

hello again, Brantley fans! this is the second blog in my series analyzing Michael Brantley's career numbers and stats from his 10 years as a Cleveland Indian. it consists of his batting order position numbers, along with his left field, center field, PH, DH, PH for DH, and PR numbers. the format is the same as my typical BOP wrap up blogs, though keen-eyed readers will be quick to spot that there are a few changes.

the thing is, as i mentioned in my previous post, from 2009-2011, i did not document and personally calculate Michael's game stats during his first 214 games in the majors. i very recently researched back through those to complete this. and again, my writing and coverage of Michael's numbers expanded as time went by, so there are certain things that i've been keeping track of in his last few campaigns that i didn't take notes on in the early days even when i was documenting his stats. therefore, i was unable to get an accurate total count for various data and, unfortunately, the following had to eliminated from this blog:
--first at bat hits,
--runners left on base,
--which specific bases Michael stole and which specific bases

Brantley's Career Game-by-Game Numbers & Notes as an Indian

hey, Brantley fans! after much debate, i decided to compile a trio of posts featuring Michael's numbers and statistics from his 10 years as a Cleveland Indian before he starts adding onto his MLB career stats with numbers from his new team, the Houston Astros.

the first installment of my three-part series is his game-by-game numbers and notes. if you're a long-time reader of mine and have followed along with my end of the season wrap up blogs, then you're already familiar with this and how it's gonna go. if not, well, it should be easy enough to pick up on because i section off and divide everything for clarity.

however, in order to make this blog complete, i had to go back and research Michael's first 214 games in the majors due to the fact that i did not personally document those stats from his early years between 2009-2011. also, i didn't get into all the specifics of Michael's numbers when i did begin to keep track of them, so there are some notes and other information that's not included, mainly around the 2012-2013 years of his career. as my writing evolved, so did my notekeeping and you'll discover that once i get to Michael's more recent campaigns. nonetheless, the game lines won't necessarily be