2005 Cleveland Indians, 93-69, .574, +148 run-differential
The 2005 Cleveland Indians won 93 games after averaging 74 wins per year over the three previous seasons. They finished six games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central and two behind the Boston Red Sox for the wild card spot after they went 1-6 in the season’s final eight days.
That was a crazy week. Heading into the day’s games on Sunday, September 25, the Yankees and Red Sox had identical records atop the AL East. They were both 90-64. Meanwhile, the Indians were 92-63 and trailed the 93-61 White Sox by just a single game. Cleveland controlled their own destiny.
The Tribe lost on a walk-off to the Royals that Sunday when Bobby Howry allowed a one out double to Paul Phillips that scored Angel Berroa with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Then came two more losses, both by a single run, followed by a win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the races looked like this:
AL East
Yankees 94-65
Red Sox 93-66
AL Central
White Sox 96-63
Indians 93-66
Cleveland finished out the seasons with a three game series at home against the White Sox. They had a chance with a sweep to finish tied for the division lead. They lost all three games. Meanwhile, the Red Sox won two of three against the Yankees to tie them for the best record in the AL East, but the Yankees won the division title based on their better head-to-head record against the Red Sox.
Despite the disappointment of winning 93 games and missing out on the MLB playoffs, the 2005 Cleveland Indians had one of the most exciting young players in baseball. Grady Sizemore was just 22 years old and filled the stat sheet with a .289/.438/.484 batting line, 111 runs, 37 doubles, 11 triples, 22 homers, 81 RBI, and 22 steals.
This was the first of a four-year stretch during which Grady Sizemore was one of the top players in baseball, right up there with Alex Rodriguez, David Wright and Chipper Jones. He averaged 6.2 WAR per year during this time. He got on base at a good clip (.372 OBP), hit for power (27 HR/year, .496 SLG), and ran the bases well (116 runs/year, 29 SB/year).
Then, suddenly, it was over. Sizemore struggled with injuries from 2009 to 2011. He was out of the major leagues in 2012 and 2013, then came back and bounced around baseball for two more years. In his final five big league seasons, he hit .238/.309/.393 while playing an average of 84 games per year.