Indians ranked 2nd by foxsports

[British_Pharaoh]

A surprise ranking? Perhaps. But the Tribe returns one of the best offenses in baseball and an underrated rotation. As well, the bullpen—the team’s weak point last season—has been significantly upgraded over the winter. Their strong run differential in 2006 also portends a big jump in the standings

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/powerRankings

dayn perry was the genius who picked the tigers over the indians last season when everyone had detroit in 4th place

[BruceK]

And four members of the AL Central in the top ten

[consigliere]

The AL Central is loaded. And, unfortunately, whoever finishes 3rd or 4th in the division may be better than half of the other teams that make the playoffs.

[DGeneral]

The AL Central is loaded.

That is correct. No excuse for not making the playoffs after the 6th year of the rebuild though.

Fans are demanding results, not hand wringing and lame excuses.

It's time to go about the business of competing for a WS title.

[consigliere]

I get the fans demands for playoffs or bust......but 90 wins and no playoffs is acceptable to me. It is damned hard to make the playoffs in baseball since so few teams get in, something which I think fans of the 90s never realized (or took for granted) since we were in such a crappy division.

A good way to look at it, is had we been in the AL East (the toughest division back then), we'd have made only 3 playoff appearances (95, 96 and 99) and not the 6 we made from 95-99 and 01.

[DGeneral]

I get the fans demands for playoffs or bust......but 90 wins and no playoffs is acceptable to me. It is damned hard to make the playoffs in baseball since so few teams get in, something which I think fans of the 90s never realized (or took for granted) since we were in such a crappy division.

Jacobs-Hart found a way to make it to the post season. Dolan-Shapiro have yet to deliver for the fans of Cleveland. As stated earlier, fans are in no mood for the litany of excuses, tough small market, tough division, hard to be one of the 4 slots. It's all about competence and doing the things necessary to get to the playoffs and then win once you get there.

Dolan has not found the formula, I doubt if he ever will.