Cleveland is 2-2 in the last 24 hours or so

If you’re here because you think I’m going to make sense out of the Cleveland Baseball Franchise, know that there is no sense to be made. People hit a ball and it goes until it stops. We cheer when this happens in an interesting way.

I don’t even know what to call the team anymore and I’ve been writing about it for six years. Why did we almost play thirty innings by design in a little more than a day? Who started the wooing? We will never know.

Today, Cleveland split two with Chicago. In the first, they against moved the momentum. In the second, they dictated its flow. They will be a better baseball team more consistently if they capitalize early in games instead of waiting until later innings to turn on the offense. It matters if a team is up early.

This is not the fault of the players on the field. They have shown what they are capable of and it is often enough. When the game comes down to the bullpens, Cleveland is usually invincible. Usually.

I wonder how good this team would be if it could play from in front just a little bit more often; just long enough to let some of these younger players get a taste of real confidence at the Major League level.

I hope we get to find out.

Speaking of confidence, I must remark upon Bradley Zimmer. I saw him play two or three weeks ago in Columbus. I would not have recognized him if not for the fact that he is inescapably Bradley Zimmer. I have never seen a baseball player so thoroughly defeated in my life which is remarkable given that I owned a mirror as a child.

Today, he appeared to be a completely different person. Both games. When called upon, capable; when needed, necessary. That’s dependability, and I’ve been dying to see it from him since 2017. I truly hope he is past four years of chaos and ready to rake.

It is also rather important that someone hit a home run, but since that’s probably the only thing any of the major outlets are going to write about I figured we’d go in a different direction.

It was a weird weekend of baseball, and it’s over. So is this recap.