Indians Second Baseman Jason Kipnis, reflects on Game 7 of World Series and Offseason

Cleveland Indians Second Baseman Jason Kipnis posted an article to the Players’ Tribune regarding Game 7 of the World Series and how he spent his offseason.

In the World Series, the Cleveland Indians fell to the Chicago Cubs after establishing a 3-1 lead. Kipnis goes on to talk about all of the trolls he had to deal with and how troublesome it was to go back to his hometown of Chicago to spend his offseason.

Kipnis mentions what manager Tito Francona told the team in the beginning of Spring Training this year. Kipnis says that the first thing Tito said was that he was proud of the run the team had made last year.

Francona also said this to the team:

“It proves that you guys have what it takes to win a world championship. I don’t want to be a team that’s sitting around in the middle of June talking about how we let a World Series slip away from us last year.”

Kipnis goes on to mention that the first few days after the 2016 season was over that he was at his townhouse in Cleveland and was in a routine of movie, TV, order food, movie, movie, movie, order food, TV and states that he refused to watch sports.

Kipnis also says that when he eventually did go back to Chicago it was different usually he would meet up with friends, have dinner, and maybe hit a bar but this time around he just couldn’t do it. He states that he might have gone out three to four times during the offseason.

The Indians second baseman also discussed the time when he was flying out of the O’Hare airport and it was super early and a Cubs fan yelled: “Go, Cubs, Go!” but Kipnis states he isn’t a morning person and that the fan would not get a politically correct response from him and that the guy would not get an apology from him.

Kipnis says that he did not handle that situation that well and he might have cursed at the fan but he is human. After that moment, Kipnis decided that he might be better off staying inside for the remainder of the offseason to avoid situations like that.

Kipnis wraps up the letter by saying that seeing Cubs fans in Progressive Field for Game 7 hurt a little bit and that the team is better when fans are 100% behind him. Lastly, Kipnis says that fans shouldn’t wait until September. Fans should start the journey from the very beginning and that he doesn’t want to say the Indians did it, he wants to say that Cleveland did.

If you would like to read the whole letter click the tweet below:

After a heartbreaking World Series defeat, @Indians star @TheJK_Kid is ready to turn the page. https://t.co/fDvoJywAz3

— Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid) April 3, 2017