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

5. Let’s Do 22

Last season the Indians seemed to have a letdown after the draining World Series that didn’t conclude until November 2nd, and on July 19th the team was just a half game up on the Twins in the AL Central sitting at 48-45.

A team meeting took place, and with it the team regained its focus and played better than any other team in the Majors the rest of the season, going 54-15 the rest of the way to finish the year 102-60, best in the American League.

With it came a win streak that started on Thursday August 24th with a 13-6 win over the Red Sox, and lasted until Thursday September 14th, as the team topped the Royals 3-2 in 10 innings at Progressive Field.

During the 22-game win streak, the team recorded seven shutouts, scored over 10 runs six times, and outscored their opponents 141 to 37 – that’s a plus 104 in runs over 22 games.

It was a crazy turnaround and the way that Francona handled it was even better – one game at a time, never willing to look ahead or behind.

After the win streak ended the team was just as impressive, going 11-4 in their final 15 games to end up with 102 wins, again thanks to Francona keeping the ship steady when some people felt they were ready to would sink.

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