Cleveland Indians land Sports Illustrated cover, fans fear infamous jinx
Sports Illustrated dared to do it again. They’ve got the Cleveland Indians making a run to the World Series and they’re letting everyone know about it.
Don’t believe us? Check out reigning AL Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber and All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley gracing the cover of the iconic magazine:
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“Why Cleveland? Why NOT Cleveland? Why The Tribe Will Win Its First Series since 1948”
The reaction from Indians fans was predictable: complete panic.
Don’t blame them for fearing the infamous cover curse though, there’s some history here. Cleveland was SI’s choice to win the championship in 1987 as Joe Carter and Cory Snyder flashed their best smiles for the camera.
There wasn’t much smiling after that. The Indians finished a disastrous 61-101 that season, the worst record in the American League.
The good news is that this year’s squad doesn’t buy into all the jinx talk. They can also point to the fact that it’s just one of four regional covers. The Nationals, Royals, and Mariners are on the others.
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“I don’t think it has any real bearing on what actually happens,” Kluber told Cleveland.com. “All they are is predictions. Once the season starts they really don’t mean much. I mean no one is going to roll over because Sports Illustrated thinks you’re a better team than they are.”
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Israel Fehr is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
