75 Years of Futility: A Year By Year Recap of Cleveland Baseball Since 1948

Any team can have a bad century - Jack Brickhouse

Well, three quarters of a century, but who’s counting right? I know I’m not breaking any major news here by saying that Cleveland baseball fans have really gone through it the past 75 years or so. I’d say it was a lot of heartbreak, but the reality of the situation is that it was really just a handful of heart breaking moments, and a lot of absolute futility.

If you haven’t yet read it, I can’t recommend Zack Meisel’s article on this topic enough, but reading it gave me an idea.

There’s approximately 80 weekdays or so between now and when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Assuming a couple days off for big news days and holidays we figured it could be fun to recap each season since 1948. This series will take place on weekdays between now and the start of spring training and each day we’ll be diving into a full recap of an entire season of Cleveland baseball. Buckle in because there’s going to be a lot of bad baseball to talk about, and not a whole lot of good during that stretch between 1955 and 1994.

Starting tomorrow we’ll be taking a look at the 1949 Cleveland Indians as they attempt to repeat as world champions (spoiler alert: they do not). We’ll then pick up again on Monday to discuss the 1950 season.

We’re really excited about this idea and think it’ll be a great way to dive into the history of the franchise as well as a fun way to bridge the gap between now and when there’s finally actual baseball to talk about.

Be on the lookout for the 1949 recap, going live tomorrow morning.