A Plea to Indians Fans: Get Out to Progressive Field

Watching Friday night’s 3-2 Indians come from behind victory over the Toronto Blue Jays was very difficult for eight and a half innings and it had nothing to do with what was taking place on the field.

Friday night’s attendance was over 30,000, a very good crowd for a summer evening. The problem was the majority of the fans I heard cheering were rooting for the Blue Jays.

A Facebook friend of mine was furious that a nearly sold out crowd was 70 percent Toronto fans.

In the end, the Indians fans had the last laugh thanks to Jose Ramirez’s game tying solo home run followed by Tyler Naquin’s inside the park walk-off solo home run, something that hasn’t happened in Indians history since 1916.

The victory to go along with a Detroit Tigers loss at home to the Boston Red Sox extends the tribe’s lead to seven games in the American League Central Division. While it is still early to think about magic numbers, but it currently stands at 35 to win the division for Cleveland.

It’s no secret that attendance is an ongoing issue involving your Cleveland Indians. I don’t have to remind any of you readers how difficult it can be to watch an Indians home game either in person or on television when the Red Sox, New York Yankees and even the Tigers are the opponent.

With summer quickly coming to an end, this is a plea for Indians fans to get down to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario and support this first place team. It’s really difficult seeing your home ballpark half empty or invaded by a lot of fans rooting on the opponent.

I understand that school is already back in session for many area school district or will get underway in the next week. Also, don’t get me started about the Browns and only having a total of ten home games in comparison to 81 for the Indians.

The Browns are still going to be one of the worse teams in the NFL in 2016 and yet over 70,000 fans will fork out the money to see bad football.

I understand that money is always an issue. In case you are wondering, I have attended five games this season. If I could afford to attend more games, not to mention having a work schedule that doesn’t allow me to head down to the ballpark more, I would be at Progressive Field cheering on the first place Indians.

If you are able to get down to the ballpark to watch exciting baseball, don’t miss out on the opportunity, catch the tribe in person.

Hopefully it starts this weekend against the Blue Jays and continues after the next road trip concludes in nine days. You just might witness a second Cleveland championship in a span of four months.