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Cleveland Indians
Overall: 21
Title track: 88
Ownership: 67
Coaching: 14
Players: 30
Fan relations: 38
Affordability: 16
Stadium experience: 18
Bang for the buck: 9
Change from last year: +40
Don't let those hapless Browns fool you. Cleveland is the city of winners! LeBron up and left Miami to come home, then he upended the Warriors a year later to claim the city's first title in 52 years. Now, the Indians have caught on, claiming 94 wins this season (their highest total in nine years), and with seven wins in the playoffs already, they have surpassed their total number of playoff victories over the previous 14 years. In return, fans have caught Indians fever. Cleveland skyrocketed up our rankings and improved by an average of 29.3 spots in each category. You might just say they believe in this land.
What's good
Those 94 wins go down easy -- and 94 wins, with a side of fan-friendly prices, hit the spot. Cleveland's highest slot this year (ironically, the lone category in which the Indians did not jump by double digits) is its top-10 turnout in bang for the buck. A night out at Progressive Field ran fans $39.61, 22 percent lower than league average and the cheapest game-going experience among all six 90-win MLB clubs this fall. (It's also $44.85 less than the cost of going to a Red Sox game ... you know, that team the Indians so casually swept aside this October.) Cleveland rocks!
What's bad
It's no 108-year drought, but 68? That ain't great. Most Cleveland fans are too young to remember -- or weren't even born to witness -- the Indians' 1948 World Series title. Since that Fall Classic, Cleveland has missed the playoffs 58 times (with just 10 postseason berths mixed in), a prolonged period of doom that has brought, well, gloom from fans when it comes to their title track assessments. The Tribe check in at No. 88 this year, sixth-worst in the league. Still, that 88 is a 26-slot improvement over last year and the team's highest ranking since 2008.
What's new
Just one team in the bottom half of MLB's payroll made the 2016 playoff cut: your Cleveland Indians. Even with a rash of injuries that would have TKO'd most clubs -- outfielder Michael Brantley missed all but 11 games, catcher Yan Gomes sat out half the season and starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar were lost for the postseason -- the Tribe have soldiered on. "We don't mind if we have to play the underdog," second baseman Jason Kipnis said in early October. "We don't mind if we have to take people by surprise. We know what kind of team we've got here and the kind of organization we have here, and we're pretty happy with what's going on." Well, fans agree. Cleveland vaulted 54 spots in players this year, cracking the top 30 overall and the top seven in baseball.
Next: Washington Nationals | Full rankings
