The Baseball Scholar

Cleveland Indians Best Single Seasons

Dave Franks
2–3 minutes

This is a list of the Cleveland Indians best single seasons. I decided to select two players for each infield position, six outfielders (regardless of specific position), and one designated hitter for each AL team. Hitters had to play at least 51% of games at their position. For pitching, we selected seven starting pitchers, three non-closers, and two closers. Starting pitchers had to start at least 20 games during the selected season. Relief pitchers were deemed non-closers if they saved less than 10 games. Closers are pitchers that save more than 10 games.


  • Catcher – Sandy Alomar, 1997

    • Sandy Alomar
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    131 .387 3.9 125 480 63 146 37 0 21 83 0 19 48 .324 .354 .545 .900

  • First Base – Jim Thome, 2002

    • Jim Thome
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    189 .461 7.4 147 613 101 146 19 2 52 118 1 122 139 .304 .445 .677 1.122

  • Second Base – Nap Lajoie, 1910

    • Nap Lajoie
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    194 .461 9.8 159 677 94 227 51 7 4 76 26 60 18 .384 .445 .514 .960

  • Third Base – Al Rosen, 1953

    • Al Rosen
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    178 .456 10.1 155 688 115 201 27 5 43 145 8 85 48 .336 .422 .613 1.034

  • Shortstop – Lou Boudreau, 1948

    • Lou Boudreau
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    166 .455 10.4 152 676 116 199 34 6 18 106 3 98 9 .355 .453 .534 .987

  • Outfield – Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1912

    • Shoeless Joe Jackson
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    186 .483 9.6 154 653 121 226 44 26 3 90 35 54 19 .395 .458 .579 1.036

  • Outfield – Tris Speaker, 1923

    • Tris Speaker
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    78 .489 9.0 150 695 133 218 59 11 17 130 8 93 15 .380 .469 .610 1.079

  • Outfield – Manny Ramirez, 1999

    • Manny Ramirez
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    172 .459 7.3 147 640 131 174 34 3 44 165 2 96 131 .333 .442 .663 1.105

  • Designated Hitter – Travis Hafner, 2006

    • Travis Hafner
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    176 .450 5.9 129 564 100 140 31 1 42 117 0 100 111 .308 .439 .659 1.097

  • Starting Pitcher – Luis Tiant, 1968

    • Luis Tiant
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    53 8.4 34 32 21 9 1.60 258.1 19 9 0 53 46 73 264 9.2 0.873

  • Starting Pitcher – Addie Joss, 1908

    • Addie Joss
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    49 8.1 42 35 24 11 1.16 325 29 9 2 77 42 30 130 3.6 0.806

  • Starting Pitcher – Gaylord Perry, 1972

    • Gaylord Perry
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    60 11.0 41 40 24 16 1.92 342.2 29 5 1 79 73 82 234 6.1 0.978

  • Starting Pitcher – Corey Kluber, 2017

    • Corey Kluber
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    50 8.0 29 29 18 4 2.25 203.2 5 3 0 56 51 36 265 11.7 0.869

  • Starting Pitcher – Vean Gregg, 1911

    • Vean Gregg
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    53 9.1 34 26 23 7 1.80 244.2 22 5 0 67 49 86 125 4.6 1.054

  • Relief Pitcher – Rafael Betancourt, 2007

    • Rafael Betancourt
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    33 4.3 68 0 5 1 1.47 79.1 0 0 3 13 13 9 80 9.1 0.756

  • Relief Pitcher – Andrew Miller, 2017

    • Andrew Miller
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    32 3.1 57 0 4 3 1.44 62.2 0 0 2 11 10 21 95 13.6 0.830

  • Closer – Jose Mesa, 1995

    • Jose Mesa
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    24 3.9 62 0 3 0 1.13 64 0 0 46 9 8 17 58 8.2 1.031

Bench

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