What each MLB team has to be thankful for this Thanksgiving
MLB: AL Central
Cleveland Indians—The Klubot
If you don’t yet know why Corey Kluber is called “The Klubot,” just watch the video below from when Kluber won the Cy Young Award. He shows all of the emotion of a beanbag chair.
If Kluber were a breakfast cereal, he’d be bran flakes. If he were a holiday, he’d be Arbor Day. If he were a movie, he’d be the “English Patient.”
When Kluber pitches, his robot brain runs a pitch sequence algorithm to optimize his repertoire. One of his favorite off-day activities is balancing his checkbook.
“The Last Jedi” was supposed to have a Kluber-inspired android character, but the audience at early screenings fell asleep when it came on the screen (this is not true).
When Kluber was first called up to the big leagues from Triple-A Columbus, he worried that the Cleveland nightlife would be too wild. He’s won exactly 18 games in a season three times because winning 20 would be too flashy.
Chicago White Sox—All the Good Minor Leaguers
The White Sox know how to do a rebuild. Since last December, they’ve traded away Adam Eaton, Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, Tommy Kahnle, and David Robertson and created the best minor league system in baseball.
Yoan Moncada has already reached the big leagues and held his own as a 22-year-old last season.
In the minors, they have a wave of top prospects on their way to Chicago: Eloy Jimenez (No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline), Michael Kopech (No. 9), Luis Robert (No. 22), Blake Rutherford (No. 39), Dylan Cease (No. 57) and Alex Hansen (No. 90).
The White Sox haven’t had a winning season since 2012 and haven’t been in the MLB playoffs since 2008, but their time is coming.
Detroit Tigers—The Lions are Good
If MLB fans in Detroit believe in karma, they can hope that the terrible MLB season by the Tigers will be rewarded by a playoff season from the Lions.
The Tigers lost 98 games, which was the most games they’ve lost in a season since the truly awful 43-119 team in 2003. The Lions, meanwhile, are on the cusp of a playoff spot in the NFL. They have a big game against the division-leading Vikings on Thanksgiving Day.
The Lions have made the playoffs nine times over the last 33 years, but they haven’t won a playoff game since they beat the Cowboys on January 5, 1992 (with props to Erik Kramer and his 341 yards passing with three touchdown tosses).
They have a chance to make the playoffs this year and Clayton Kershaw’s childhood buddy, Matthew Stafford, is having his best season. Tigers fans who like (or tolerate) football, can be thankful for the Lions this year.
Kansas City Royals—Barbecue
A few years ago, Royals fans would be thankful for the core group of players who helped them win the World Series in 2015. That’s no longer the case with the likely departure of free agents Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, and Alcides Escobar. They still have barbecue, though.
Kansas City is the barbecue capital of the country. There are more than 100 barbecue restaurants in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and the city hosts the American Royal World Series of Barbecue, which is the largest barbecue competition in the world.
You can get barbecue on most anything at Kauffman Stadium, including a hot dog with pulled pork, a brisket burger with burnt-end chili, and a funnel cake topped with barbecue pulled pork.
The great Joe Posnanski is a rib connoisseur. He wrote about eating at 12 of the top 15 best rib places in America (ranked by The Daily Meal). Posnanski’s longtime friend, the late Buck O’Neil, was a Gates Bar B-Q man, in large part due to Gates’ perfect sauce.
The Daily Meal proclaimed Oklahoma Joe’s to be the number one rib place in the country.
Posnasnki’s official favorite is Arthur Bryant’s, which the Daily Meal had ranked number two, but Posnanski mentioned that a cab driver in Denver proclaimed the best ribs in the world are at Guy and Mae’s Tavern. Joe tried them, and he couldn’t say they weren’t the best he’s ever had.
Minnesota Twins—Buxton and Berrios
Twins fans can be thankful for the improvement of their young B-Boys, Byron Buxton and Jose Berrios. Buxton came up to the big leagues in June of 2015 and struggled to hit for two years. In his first 196 games, he hit .211/.272/.358, a 66 wRC+.
That made him 34 percent below average as a hitter. He was still a great fielder but needed to step it up with the bat. He came alive in July this summer and hit .309/.358/.538 in his last 66 games.
Jose Berrios also made great strides in his second season. He was 3-7 with an ERA over 8.00 in 14 starts as a rookie. This year, he was 14-8 with a 3.89 ERA. The future of the Twins will depend on youngsters Buxton and Berrios (and Miguel Sano).