It used to be that the Indians’ season ended, for all intents and purposes, when the Browns opened training camp late, July
In fact, in some years, the Indians‘ seasons may have ended several weeks before training camp even opened as the Browns players and coaches return from their time away and started to get ready for camp practices to begin.
That was the scenario for decades. It is not the scenario anymore, though.
The Indians are no more. They are now the Guardians and are not in any way, shape or form playing like the Indians teams of the 1980s, ‘70s and ‘60s performed. Whle all those Indians teams in almost all of those years struggled, and In many cases mightily, the Guardians are red-hot as they went into Monday night’s game at Baltimore at 49–26, the best record in the American League and the second-best record in all of Major League Baseball. They just came off of a home sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays in which their fans packed Progressive Field.
The Browns are on that aforementioned summer vacation. They won’t start training camp for about a month. So, while there is no real news about the Browns right now, there is plenty of news — most of it good to excellent — about the Guardians.
I know I’ve discussed this situation several times already since the Guardians opened their season, but it bears repeating as these two franchises vie for the fans’ hearts. The situation has gotten more pronounced recently because of the off-the-charts play of the Guardians and the fans’ reaction to them in terms of coming to the games. Attendance is way up over last year.
This is still a Browns town, make no mistake about that. It always has been, and it always will be. But the Guardians so far this season are making some inroads into that mix. Fans are going to spend these next three or four weeks focused almost totally on the Guardians and just catching glimpses of what is going on in Berra with the Browns. That will change, of course, when training camp starts, how much, really? That’s the interesting part. That’s the part that is really going to be fun to watch. How do the fans focus on both teams at the same time? Who gets top billing, and on what days?
Remember, when the Indians got good in the last half of the 1990s, the original Browns franchise was off to Baltimore. The Indians had no competition, and they took full advantage of it, being the team that everybody in Cleveland wanted to watch, to the tune of having 455 straight sellouts at then Jacobs Field.
When the Indians got real good in the last half of the previous decade, the Browns were just awful. So, then, this is the first time since 1994 and ‘95, the Browns last two years in Cleveland before heading to the East Coast, that the Browns and the baseball franchise are going to be good, and in the championship discussion, at the same time.
The Browns had better be cognizant of all this. They might not be, for there is some haughtiness in the upper levels of that building in Berea. They may think they just have to show up, and all eyes will turn toward them. Well, I don’t think that’s Wrong going to happen. The Browns are going to have to earn the fans’ attention. This baseball team has been too fun to watch so far this season, and thatisn’t going to go away anytime soon, if ever, this summer.
In the meantime, enjoy the Guardians. The 49-28 Orioles, who have the third-best record in the American League, will be a great test for them in this three-game series at Camden Yards.
Stay tuned
Steve King
