Francisco Lindor Wins Rawlings' 2016 AL SS Gold Glove Award & Platinum Glove Award!

tonight, on November 8, it was announced that Francisco Lindor won Rawlings' 2016 American League Shortstop Gold Glove Award! this is the first Gold Glove of Lindor's career. congratulations, Frankie!

photo courtesy of @Indians on twitter

no Cleveland Indian has won a Gold Glove since 2008 when Grady Sizemore won the AL CF Gold Glove, and no Cleveland shortstop has won since Omar Vizquel in 2001. Lindor, age 22, is the youngest middle infielder in franchise history to win a Gold Glove, and the youngest Indians player to win one since a 21-year old

Wrapping Up Brantley's 2016 Season

from Michael Brantley's perspective, i cannot say i'm sorry to see the 2016 baseball season go. for him, it was unlike any other and certainly will not be mentioned in the "best of" seasons of his career. we basically got a taste of what Indians baseball will be like without Dr. Smooth in the (hopefully far off) future. except, in an unexpected twist, the team did not seem in desperate need of its best hitter this year; not until the end, that is. on the other hand, Michael can now claim that he's already had a bit of experience as a coach in Major League Baseball once he's a retired player since his main role in 2016 became providing his teammates with his baseball knowledge, guidance, and pointers.

this final wrap up blog is somewhat different from how i've previously done it. that's due to the fact that Michael didn't play a full season, and so i couldn't really give justifiable comments about it or do fair comparisons of it to his past seasons. additionally, it's being posted later than usual because the Indians recently completed a long playoff run and i wanted to include my thoughts on that in here as well. nonetheless, this blog consists of some highlights from Michael's playing time with the Tribe, quotes, and

Brantley's 2016 Postseason October/November (w/ Rehab Updates & Pics)

it may not have ended how Michael Brantley, the Cleveland Indians, and all their fans wanted, but this was one hell of a postseason October/November. congratulations to the Tribe for extending their 2016 season into the early hour of November 3 (crazy right?! lol) and making it an exciting one.

despite Michael not appearing in any postseason games or series, i of course still had to write this blog. the format of it follows my more recent Brantley monthly blogs, where he didn't play at all and i provided a recap of the Tribe's performance for extra content.

there are four sections in this blog. the first covers the overall postseason for Michael and the Indians. the second focuses solely on the ALDS, the third is all about the ALCS, and the fourth discusses the World Series as well as some rehab updates! each section contains subsections that include an overview, Michael news and pictures, and/or win celebrations. had Michael been healthy and played in these playoff games with the Indians, i for sure would have created separate blogs for each series. but since i didn't have any numbers to document and breakdown, i decided to combine everything into one postseason blog.

My Thoughts on the Cleveland Indians' Loss to the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series

shortly before 1 am on November 3, 2016, the Cleveland Indians lost Game 7 to the Chicago Cubs in 10 innings and therefore lost the World Series. this came after the Tribe was up, 3-1, in the series. alas, they could not manage to win one game out of the last three, or even one of their final two games at home. and i'm stunned.

i had such a sweet, heartfelt blog draft started (much like how a lot of real writers pre-write their stories) for if the Indians won the World Series, and i'm really sad that it's never going to see the light of day. so instead, i have written a blog with my thoughts on their losing the 2016 World Series, something i honestly did not consider a possibility. warning: i am a diehard Indians fan who's taking this loss hard, and this blog does contain some harsh, explicit remarks and potential knee-jerk reactions.

the 112th Fall Classic was met with a very intriguing matchup between two teams with the two longest championship droughts in Major League Baseball. the Cubs had last won the World Series in 1908 and the Indians last won in 1948--that's 108 years ago vs. 68 years ago. except now, the Indians are the biggest losers in baseball and their drought will officially extend to 69 years at the commencement of 2017.

Chicago, a 103 game winner in the regular season, was the

Brantley's 2016 Situational #s & Statistics

the third installment of my Brantley wrap up blog series contains Michael's 2016 situational #s and other statistics. this includes his batting averages against RHP and LHP, at home and away, with RISP, with runners on base, with the bases loaded, and with the bases empty. there's also stats like WAR, wRC+, BsR, and UZR along with his K rate, number of times he reached base, and number of times he was left stranded. in addition, i've chronicled his total numbers against each AL Central team as well as from Interleague Play in this post. and, if you can believe it, there is a section acknowledging how Michael finished the year with one stat that ranked in the Top 10 around the league. not bad for a guy who only played in 11 games.


in 2016, Michael had 43 plate appearances and 39 at bats in 11 games (89.1 innings). in total, he had 9 hits, 2 extra base hits, 7 singles, 2 doubles, 7 RBI, 1 sac fly, 5 runs, 3 walks, 1 intentional walk, 1 stolen base (3rd), 1 GIDP, 6 strikeouts (3 swinging, 3 looking), 1 first at bat hit, 11 total bases, 14 left on base, 18 putouts, and 1 assist.

2016 batting average:

Brantley's 2016 Batting Order Position & LF/PH #s

this blog is the second in what i'm referring to as my Brantley wrap up series. happily, i can reveal that there's definitely more numbers in this one than in my first because the core of it revolves around Michael's BOPs. and even though he played in just 11 games, he did bat in three spots in the order; therefore, i have stuff to break down.

note: if you don't recall, Michael played 11 minor league games while on his rehab assignments this year in addition to playing in the big leagues. i am only breaking down the numbers from his time with the Indians here. if you want to see his overall rehab number breakdowns, please read the Brantley's Overall 2016 Minor League Rehab #s blog.


Michael didn't play much in 2016, yet he finished the year with three different batting order positions on record. the original plan was for Michael to reclaim his 3rd spot in the lineup again this season once he was done rehabbing from his offseason right shoulder surgery and ready to rejoin the Indians. well that got scrapped before he even came off the disabled list. while Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor were batting 1 and 2 against right-handed starters, Terry Francona was content with Rajai Davis leading off in front of them against left-handed starters. so it was assumed, when Michael came back, that he would bat

Brantley's 2016 Game-by-Game Numbers & Notes

now it's time to start posting my series of Michael Brantley wrap up blogs. [insert the "but hasn't his season been wrapped up since May 9?" joke here if you must, but i have writing to do regardless.] despite the abnormality that Michael didn't play much in 2016, i'm still going to follow my usual format of splitting everything up in several posts even though the amount of information this year is minor.

the primary focus of this first blog is Michael's game-by-game numbers and notes. however, i have to tell ya, there are more notes than numbers.

Michael had the most injury-riddled season he's ever experienced in the major leagues. it was full of peaks and valleys, progressions and setbacks, smiles and frowns. from opening the 2016 season on the DL, to playing 11 games with the Indians, to suffering right shoulder inflammation/a subacromial impingement and going back on the DL in May, to developing right biceps tendinitis in June, to going out on a minor league rehab assignment in July, to being diagnosed with chronic right biceps tendinitis in August and consequently undergoing season-ending biceps tenodesis (surgery), Michael battled so many challenges. he was basically on a roller coaster ride and, unfortunately, it had a rough ending.

there's no question Michael

Brantley's Second Half 2016

before i start posting all of my Brantley wrap up blogs, i have to post about his (atypical) second half of 2016. for the first time in Michael Brantley's Major League career, he missed out on the entire second half of the year. he was still on the disabled list when baseball resumed after the All Star Break, and then his season-ending surgery in August ensured that he would not be playing again in 2016. therefore, he remained on the DL and was merely a spectator for the whole second half.

consequently, this was a bit of a challenge for me because i've never previously written a second half blog where Michael literally had no statistics, so there was no template for me to go by. that said, i did manage to write it and filled in whatever sections i could. honestly, this post is more for documentation purposes than anything else, so if it has no appeal to you, i understand. more blogs will be published as the week continues, and hopefully those will pique your interest.


post-All Star Break in 2016, Michael had no numbers of any kind.

2nd Half 2016 batting average:

Brantley's September/October 2016 (w/ Sling Updates)

what's up, Brantley fans? thank you so much to all those who read my Brantley's August 2016 blog and Brantley's 2016 #s Through August blog. and hello to the people in Chile and Pakistan who've come here over the past month! welcome and feel free to browse through whatever posts you like!

because Michael did not play in any September/October games, most of the typical sections in this monthly blog are either devoid of stats or have been excluded. there was also a serious lack of information in regards to post-surgery updates, and the majority of what i wrote about that came from my own personal observations. otherwise, there wasn't a whole lot going on in terms of Michael news. in the end though, i did manage to create FOUR new blog sections that i think will be of interest to you guys, so read on!


notes: at this time, i always like to clarify that September and October are combined as one month. this is common practice throughout baseball when the regular season extends into the beginning of October because there's really no point in singling out October stats since so few games are played. (it's the same any time the season opens up in late March; March and April are always considered one month as well.) therefore, whenever "the/this month" is written throughout this blog, know that i am referring to both September/October as one month despite the fact that Michael didn't play in either September or October. i have also used "September/October" continually in each section below even if the particular thing i'm discussing occurred in only one of the two months and not the other (ie. the interleague series in early September).

The Indians Are the 2016 AL Central Division Champions!

tonight, on September 26, after beating the Detroit Tigers in Game #156, the Cleveland Indians clinched the American League Central Division and secured their spot in the 2016 postseason AL Division Series! this is their first AL Central Division title since 2007 and eighth title overall in club history. it's been a looong nine years but it had to happen again sometime, right? congratulations, boys!!!

photo courtesy of the Cleveland Indians facebook page

the Indians won the game, 7-4, when