Let’s Go Tribe’s top FanPosts of 2016

The Let’s Go Tribe staff does a lot of writing, but we’re not the only ones contributing to the site. FanPosts give the community the chance to get their own voice out there in longform, and in a way that doesn’t get drowned out in a long comment thread. We get a lot of great ones every single year.

This year, to rank the best of the best, I decided to go with the highest rec’d posts instead of most popular by traffic because it’s too damn hard to pick them out in Google Analytics because the best community posts should be about which ones the community responded the most to. Multiple posts had the same number of rec’s, so the tiebreaker in this case was number of comments.

#1 - Too Long. Didn’t Read. by YoDaddyWags (November 4)

If you couldn’t tell by the date, this is YDW’s postmortem on the Indians’ crushing World Series loss. The raw emotion is incredible, and it still lingers more than a month later.

#2 - What’s in a name? by AlexRalston (October 16)

The best way to sum up this post is a quote from the final paragraph.

That is why, to me, they should change the name and get rid of the Chief. Not because the history of the franchise does not matter but precisely because it matters so much. The legacy of the Cleveland Indians is to be a beacon of acting the right way and treating others fairly. To ignore a community of people simply because ‘the name is what it is’ or for the sake of historical precedent is exactly the opposite way the franchise has reacted to social issues in the past.

It’s an argument against Chief Wahoo without the snark and insults often slung around when talking about it. If you are on still on the side of keeping the logo, I encourage to read this essay and see how the rest of us feel in a calm, measured way.

#3 - A world without Cleveland by 9James (June 28)

What if the Indians didn’t exist? What would the AL Central have looked like in 2016? Considering the Tribe beat the rest of their division like Jon Adams beats his drum, a lot of other teams would be a lot happier.

#4 - Another Prayer for the Tribe by mainstreetfan (January 19)

mainstreetfan was so close to praying us to a World Series celebrations. Note that this post was back in January. I hope he realizes this means he has to travel to Luang Prabang every year now.

#5 - “...there’s a market for a curveball.” by Rolub (March 15)

This was one of the responses to a FanPost of week question that asked about interactions with players. Rolub’s entry is full of twists and turns and well worth the read.

#6 - Terry Francona, fearless leader of the Cleveland Indians by Matt Schlicting (February 24)

The first post of now staff writer Matt Schlicting, which features one of my favorite openings ever. Fun fact: I actually found Matt thanks to my borderline-creepy need to search “Let’s Go Tribe” on Facebook to see whose talking about it and he posted this article from his personal blog.

#7 - 27 Games Later: Suck It, History by no1ever (July 5)

The excellent-as-always 27-game breakdown from no1ever. This particular one came in early July with the Tribe fresh off their incredible month of June.

#8 - On Bobby Bradley and the success of teenage mashers by Zaza Braggins (January 28)

Bobby Bradley is young and hits baseballs incredibly hard. How well does that translate to being a good major-leaguer? Zaza Braggins took a deep look at the subject last January.

#9 - Straight Talkin' (on Tribe Prospects and some SP's) by OhioTommy (April 16)

OhioTommy isn’t very active on LGT, this is his fourth FanPost and he has 44 comments, but he posted this great breakdown of several players he has seen over the past year.

#10 - A Grand Unified Theory of Tito Francona’s Managing Style by mainstreetfan (August 17)

A very well-thought breakdown of why Tito makes some of the infuriating decisions he makes at time. At this point, he’s earned our trust enough to do whatever the hell he wants.