Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Chapter 710 38: The Champion's Obsession

Cleveland, the second largest city in Ohio, sits on the southern shore of Lake Erie, facing Ontario in Canada across the lake—this was once a manufacturing center at the crossroads of canals and railroads, one of the major cities in the eastern United States; yet just like Pittsburgh and Detroit, Cleveland couldn't escape decline when heavy industry waned.

Cleveland is also a city that loves sports: Of the four major sports leagues in the United States, they have the Cavaliers in the NBA, the Indians in MLB, and the Browns in the NFL. However, this city with three teams was long deprived of professional sports championships.

Since the Cleveland Browns won the Super Bowl in 1964, this large industrial city has not been able to touch any championship for half a century:

In 1995, the Indians won a hundred games in a single regular season, swept the Boston Red Sox in the playoffs, defeated the "monster" Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr.'s Mariners to reach the World Series; nevertheless, in the end, they lost to the Atlanta Braves, who boasted Hall of Fame pitchers John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine.

In 1997, it was still the Indians, with a historical second-worst record of 86 wins advancing, they exploded with astonishing combat power, first destroying the Yankees' defending dream, then defeating the strongest Baltimore Orioles in the AL Championship Series, entering the World Series for the second time in three years. This time, they battled the Miami Marlins for seven games, ultimately losing in the 11th inning of Game Seven with a walk-off hit, again missing the championship.

In 2007, the protagonist was the Cleveland Cavaliers, the young "King" LeBron James led the team to defeat the East's king Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, advancing to the finals for the first time in his career; however, they were swept by the seasoned Spurs in the finals, prompting Tim Duncan to utter the famous phrase, "The future is yours."

In 2015, it was still the Cavaliers, still LeBron James, the 30-year-old King returned from Miami, leading the team to the finals in his first year. Even after losing Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, the Cavaliers led 2:1 in the finals but were reversed by the Golden State Warriors, losing once again.

In 2016, under the leadership of championship coach Frankner, the young, dynamic Indians defeated Frankner's old team the Boston Red Sox, gentlemanly swept the Toronto Blue Jays in the championship series, and led the Chicago Cubs 3:1 in the World Series, seemingly about to break the curse.

But everyone knows what happened later; Frankner, who once led the Red Sox to a 3-out-of-4 comeback against the Yankees, suffered the most painful loss of his life, with the Indians losing the championship after seven games.

Had it not been for the Cavaliers' comeback in the finals against the 73-win Warriors that year, this 52-year curse might have continued.

When Lin Guanglai and the Yankees crew arrived outside the Indians' home at Progress Field, the first thing they saw wasn't anything related to baseball, but the huge solo poster of LeBron James captioned with "Champion" that occupied an entire wall across from Progress Field at the Quicken Loans Arena.

"I suddenly thought of something." Looking at the giant poster, Luis Severino, who would be today's starting pitcher, said to Lin Guanglai beside him, "The NBA's new season hasn't started yet, so do you think LeBron will come to watch today's game? And do you think he'd support his hometown team the Indians or us the Yankees?"

His question sparked a discussion among the Yankees players: after all, LeBron James is known to be a Yankees fan, which isn't exactly a secret in the North American sports circle; even his signature shoes have had special colorways launched for the Yankees.

"This is Cleveland; even if LeBron is a Yankees fan, he has to act like a local team's fan at Progress Field, right? Otherwise, wouldn't Indians fans boo him to death?" Didi Gregorius was the first to share his perspective.

Listening to this, Brett Gardner shook his head and offered his differing view: "I don't think so. Is it weird to like our Yankees? Locals don't have to like local teams, we Yankees win, and win beautifully, being adored is not unusual."

"But didn't he tweet to cheer for the Indians during last year's World Series?" Gary Sanchez joined the discussion, unable to resist asking, "Anyway, if I were a Yankees fan, I wouldn't cheer for other teams if the Yankees lost."

Quick to spot the flaw in Sanchez's words, Aaron Judge immediately feigned a serious expression and questioned Sanchez, "Gary, what do you mean by 'if you were a Yankees fan'? Are you not a Yankees fan? We may have to give you a good team ideation lesson then..."