Mother Nature interrupted Sunday's game between the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals in the sixth inning. The clouds opened, the tarps came out and the two American League Central foes endured a three-hour-plus delay.
These days, however, nothing can rain on the Indians' parade.
The Tribe tacked on a pair of runs after play resumed and cruised to a 7-0 victory at Progressive Field, completing a four-game sweep of Kansas City. With that, Cleveland moved to 31-24 and edged 1.5 games ahead of the Royals for division supremacy.
Ladies and gentlemen, your first-place Indians.
The Indians have been a trendy pick as far back as March 2015, when Sports Illustrated tapped them as World Series winners. Instead, they finished 81-80, 13.5 games out of first.
Still, multiple projection systems fired up the hype machine and again tapped them as division favorites this year, as Rob Rogacki of SB Nation's Bless You Boys noted in April.
It's only June, but the Indians finally appear to be living up to the advanced billing. At the least, their sweep of the defending champs makes a loud, definitive statement in the balanced, crowded Central.
Kansas City sailed into the series with a headwind of its own, having won six straight.
Cleveland, however, outscored the Royals 25-6 in the four contests. Sunday was the punctuation mark, as ace Corey Kluber and the bullpen collaborated on a three-hit shoutout and Mike Napoli, Tyler Naquin, Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor all went deep.
The Indians now own the third-best run differential in the AL at plus-46. And they're an impressive 18-7 against AL Central foes after going 32-43 against division opponents in 2015.
That's especially important in a race that figures to be a dogfight to the end. The Royals aren't going anywhere, as they showed with their recent surge. The Detroit Tigers have enough firepower to stay in the hunt. And the Chicago White Sox are intent on contention, which they displayed by acquiring veteran right-hander James Shields from the San Diego Padres on Saturday.
Right now, though, the Indians look like the favorites. Baseball Prospectus foretells a first-place finish for Cleveland, as does FanGraphs, so the computers still like them.
ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney placed them fifth in his power rankings before Sunday's sweep-sealing win, ahead of legit Fall Classic hopefuls such as the Washington Nationals and New York Mets:
The Indians currently sit in the top third in baseball in team ERA and runs scored. Their starting pitchers are second in the AL in strikeouts, and that's with right-hander Carlos Carrasco missing more than a month with a hamstring injury.
Carrasco returned June 2 and went five innings in a win over Kansas City. He rejoins a rotation headlined by Kluber—the 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner—and Danny Salazar, who owns a 2.24 ERA and has fanned 81 in 68.1 innings.
On offense, Cleveland has been without former All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley, who underwent offseason shoulder surgery and suffered a setback in May that landed him on the disabled list again.
On Friday, manager Terry Francona said Brantley is "a ways away" from returning, per Chris Assenheimer of the Chronicle-Telegram. Assuming he does come back healthy, he'll bolster the lineup significantly.
But it's not as though Cleveland is hapless with the lumber.
Lindor, the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up, has complemented his slick fielding at shortstop with a .313/.367/.456 slash line, while Napoli leads the team with 14 homers and 42 RBI after signing a one-year, $7 million deal with Cleveland this winter.
Adding another hitter at the deadline might be prudent, especially if Brantley doesn't return to form. Oakland A's outfielder Josh Reddick, currently on the shelf with a thumb injury, is one intriguing option.
That's talk for another day, though. Cleveland, at last, is clicking.
"We've turned the corner," second baseman Jason Kipnis said after the Indians picked up a second consecutive walk-off victory on Thursday, per Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. "Guys are involved. Guys are interested, not like we weren't before, but anytime you win two in a row with a walk-off you've got guys feeling good. They're showing up at the ballpark with smiles on their faces."
Cleveland fans should be smiling too. After wallowing in fizzled hype and dashed expectations, these Indians are making a move.
And right now, not even Mother Nature can stand in their way.
All statistics current as of June 5 and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
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