{mosimage} After spending much of the 90's in the playoffs as the creation of GM John Hart, the Cleveland Indians are now back as the creation of Mark Shapiro. Where the teams of the nineties were built on offensive power centered around Thome and Rameriez, the team of 2007 is built around pitching with CC Sabathia, Fausto Camona and the back of the bullpen. Both have sought to wrap up their young stars in long term contracts but Hart sought to fill holes with free agent signings while Shapiro has tried to build the team by acquiring droves of young players and seeing who could really play major league ball.

The team that celebrated on Sunday having secured its first playoff appearance since 2001 with bottles of champagne in one hand and beer in the other, was far different from the team that started the season. The bullpen that was a failure in 2006 is one of the strongest in baseball with the two Rafaels - Perez and Betancourt. Then there is Joe Borowski. While he keeps the fans on the edge of their seats with men on base and runs allowed, he still gets the job done and will finish the year as one of the top save producers ever for the Tribe.

As to starting pitching the Indians entered the season feeling good with their rotation that included CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Jeremy Sowers. While Sabathia has fulfilled his promise as a number 1 pitcher, Lee and Sowers were demoted to the minors and the Tribe found Fausto Carmona as its new star. Last year's disastrous experiment as a closer is this years American League era leader.

On the field the Tribe has replaced Andy Marte at 3rd base with Casey Blake. Blake was the man without a position entering the year with Trot Nixon playing right field. Trot Nixon has himself also largely been replaced by Franklin Gutierrez who adds speed and athletic ability to the team. At 2nd base, Asdrubal Cabrera has supplanted Josh Barfield both as a fielder and a hitter. Cabrera is batting over .400 from the 7th inning on and seems to be involved in every rally of the Tribe. His defense and range have been overshadowed by his offensive production but have been sometimes spectacular.

The look of the crowds have mirrored that of the Indians in the movie - sparse in the early going and packed houses once the team began its run. And its run was in the manner of the movie ending with the run of 21 wins over 26 games including the big final sweep of the Tigers.

The City wants to think of this team as a team of destiny and one that can deliver what it believed that the teams of the 90's could not fail in doing - deliver a World Series Championship. Their manager Eric Wedge's job is to keep them focused on their job - each game, each at bat, each pitch thrown and ball caught.

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