JRN: Welcome to 1988: Our Major League replay. You can’t start the season without spring training and a team preview. Rewind back to 1988 – a simpler time of middle school, Bobby Brown singing Don’t Be Cruel, and in Andrea’s case, Aqua Net. And baseball. Glorious baseball!. We are replaying one of her favorite teams, the 1988 Cleveland Indians. And because it was almost 40 years ago, we almost forgot who we had on the squad, but thanks to the 1988 Street and Smith’s Baseball Yearbook, we got a quick refresher. Here is what the magazine said about the 1988 club:
Rebuilding in Cleveland? Why, no! Ignoring the failure of last season’s management to obtain pitching, new GM Hank Peters and firstyear manager Doc Edwards, are going for broke this season. “You have to prepare yourself to be the winner of the.race from day one,” Edwards said. “That’s what we’ll be doing.” It will take some doing. The Indians went belly up last season after some publications picked them to win the Eastern Division. In winning only 61 games, the fewest in the major leagues, the Indians had the biggest drop from one year to the next, mostly because of pitching. No club since the 1962 New York Mets had an ERA over 5.00, but the Indians were 5.28. Furthermore, their defense was the worst in the league with 153 errors. The offense could use alittle juicing up, too. The Indians hit more home runs (187) than any Tribe team since 1970 and became the first team in major-league history to have three players who eclipsed 30 home runs (Joe Carter, Cory Snyder, Brook Jacoby) and three with 30 steals (Carter, Julio Franco, Brett Butler). But their production fell dramatically from 831 runs to 742 while their batting average dropped 20 points to .263. Butler took his .296 average to San Francisco as a free agent.
For the purposes of this replay, we lost Butler, and while we have Carter and Snyder, we decided to make a trade and replace Butler with Brad Komminsk. Andrea will explain below. I think our offense will be decent, but what could get us is our subpar fielder, weak catcher Andy Allanson, and our shaky pitching. I am proposing that we go with a three-man rotation, since we are only playing 25 games, of Tom Candiotti, Greg Swindell and Scott Bailes? Oh boy. I would prefer having John Farrell in the bullpen with Doug Jones, so we can use him daily if needed.
When we look at the schedule, going with a three man will allow us to avoid all the aces on the other teams. For example, we open with Boston where we will see Roger Clemens, but when we go to Milwaukee, we may avoid Teddy Higuera. Since we are playing inner-league, I do want to face Dwight Gooden in NY and Orel Hershiser from LA, probably because I am either a glutton for punishment or remember just how good we had it. Just looking at these names here, I am remembering just how well we were eating back in the day – we are about to see STARS galore.
So how will we do: Let’s go back to Street and Smith’s for the answer:
The Cleveland Indians were stunned when outfielder Brett Butler used free agency to go to the National League, but their problems aren’t on offense. They have the same screaming needs in pitching since Bert Blyleven and Rick Sutcliffe were traded. New GM Hank Peters didn’t gain pitching through trades and there is no help coming from the farm system. Eddie Williams, though, appears ready for the infield. “] don’t believe in fiveyear, three-year, or even two-year plans,” Peters said. “! believe in winning now.” He did not say how.
I don’t know how either. However, let’s say this – our goal is to win 13 games. And we will play it out like this:
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We need to beat the hated Yankees in the J&C classic. Get our your I hate the Yankees hankies
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If we win 13, we win the right to play Boston – the real life division winner – for the AL East title in a best of 5 series
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If we beat Boston, we win the right to play Oakland, the real life AL West winner, for a trip to the World Series
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If we beat Oakland, we win the right to play the LA Dodgers, the real life champions for the whole ball of wax. All the marbles.
In terms of projection, I think we beat the Yankees but I am not sure we win 13. In real life that year, Cleveland was 78-84. After 25 games in real life, the team was 17-8. However they did not play any NL teams, so, let;s play it amazingly safe, and project our record as 12-13, beating NY but not earning the right to play Boston, as I think our pitching will fail us, but this is why we play the games, right?
ALB, tell them about why we are tracking stats on Brook Jacoby, your incredible man-crush on Brad Komminssk (the only woman who crushes on him with the exception of his wife) and how you think we will do.
ALB:
Reading this brought back so many memories! There’s something special about revisiting a season from decades ago and looking at it with fresh eyes. It’s amazing how a baseball replay becomes so much more than statistics—it becomes a trip back to a specific time in life. For me, 1988 wasn’t just about baseball. It was wrapping up elementary school and starting middle school, hair held together with plenty of Aqua Net, listening to Bobby Brown and others on repeat, and watching Cleveland baseball with hope that this would finally be the year. Oh I was SO very hopeful!!
One of the things I enjoy most about projects like this is that they remind us how unpredictable sports can be. On paper, the 1988 Indians had plenty of offensive talent. Joe Carter, Cory Snyder, Brook Jacoby, Julio Franco…there were legitimate stars on that roster. Yet anyone who followed that team remembers that great offense couldn’t always overcome inconsistent pitching and defensive struggles. That’s what makes baseball so fascinating. The numbers tell one story, but every game has the opportunity to write a different one.
As for my “man-crush” on Brad Komminsk…I’ll happily own it! 😂 I’ve always thought he was one of those players who had so much potential and never quite got the opportunity to show everything he was capable of. That’s exactly why I wanted to bring him into our replay. Baseball is full of “what if” stories, and this gives us a chance to imagine one playing out a little differently. Plus, I was smitten by how he looked in his baseball pants while playing in the outfield…lol.
I’m especially excited to follow Brook Jacoby throughout the replay. He was one of the most underrated players of that era and someone who embodied consistency. He may not always get mentioned alongside some of the bigger names from the late ’80s, but he was a player who quietly showed up every day and produced. Tracking his numbers throughout this project should be a lot of fun. He was my absolute favorite growing up and my parents always bought tickets to Indians games along the third baseline so that I could get a close up view of him! HA! I even remember getting pulled out of school (a surprise!) to go meet him, not only once, but twice! I was ecstatic and still have the picture to prove it! HA HA!
As for our chances? My heart says we’ll surprise some people. My baseball brain agrees that the pitching staff is going to make every game feel like an adventure. A three-man rotation makes sense over a 25-game replay, and leaning on Doug Jones and John Farrell in key spots could keep us competitive. If the offense gets hot and Candiotti’s knuckleball decides to dance, anything is possible.
I love the challenge you’ve laid out: beat the Yankees first, then earn the opportunity to chase Boston, Oakland, and ultimately the Dodgers. That’s a fun twist because it gives every game real stakes. Even if we fall short of the 13-win goal, I think the journey is going to be just as entertaining as the destination.
Most of all, this project reminds me why we love baseball. It’s about memories, hope, second chances, and believing that this season—even one being replayed nearly 40 years later—might turn out differently. That’s the beauty of the game. Every opening day brings a clean slate, and until the final out is recorded, anything can happen. What sweet memories of an “easier” time, our 80s childhood…oh how I often wish we could go back, or at least take some of what we have presently (my daughters) back to experience how life was so much better in so many ways back then 🙂 I’m eager to see how this all unfolds.
Play ball! ⚾
