The Francona 500: Five Memorable Moments of Terry Francona’s Time as Indians Manager

2. The Year One Clinch

The Tribe acquired some talent in year one that gave them a shot to do some damage in the division and make a playoff run late in the season.

Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn came aboard, Mike Avilés and Yan Gomes were acquired from the Blue Jays, as were Trevor Bauer, Bryan Shaw, and Matt Albers from Arizona.

In the end the new talent ended up paying off, as the team went 92-70, a whopping 24-game improvement over the previous year.

While there were bumps in the road, the team went wild in September when it counted, going 21-6 in the month including a 10-game winning streak to close the season that led them to clinching a home wild card game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

While they lost that game 4-0, it was still a memorable run and the team felt they were ready to make even bigger strides moving forward with Francona and a young roster.

To no surprise, Francona was named the AL Manager of the Year.

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