because Michael did not play in any September/October games, most of the typical sections in this monthly blog are either devoid of stats or have been excluded. there was also a serious lack of information in regards to post-surgery updates, and the majority of what i wrote about that came from my own personal observations. otherwise, there wasn't a whole lot going on in terms of Michael news. in the end though, i did manage to create FOUR new blog sections that i think will be of interest to you guys, so read on!
notes: at this time, i always like to clarify that September and October are combined as one month. this is common practice throughout baseball when the regular season extends into the beginning of October because there's really no point in singling out October stats since so few games are played. (it's the same any time the season opens up in late March; March and April are always considered one month as well.) therefore, whenever "the/this month" is written throughout this blog, know that i am referring to both September/October as one month despite the fact that Michael didn't play in either September or October. i have also used "September/October" continually in each section below even if the particular thing i'm discussing occurred in only one of the two months and not the other (ie. the interleague series in early September).
in other news, i will be writing an additional Postseason October (/November if applicable) blog this year that will focus on playoff information because the Cleveland Indians will be appearing in at least one postseason series in 2016! woo-hoo! as of now, i'm planning to make it a joint Brantley/Indians playoffs blog, much like how i've been writing the past few Brantley monthly posts that contain an overview recapping the Tribe's performance. so stay tuned for that!
and be sure to read the end of this post to see what changes are coming to the blog for the rest of this month!
September/October Overview
the Indians played their final 29 games of the year in September/October and once again, for the fourth consecutive month, Michael didn't play any games. they went 18-11 without him and also clinched the AL Central Division during the last week of the regular season, guaranteeing themselves a spot in the October postseason.
to my dismay, the Indians didn't provide any health updates on Michael this month. i guess right now it's simply a matter of not having significant news to report. tomorrow he will be seven weeks removed from the biceps tenodesis (surgery) that was performed on him on August 15. i assume he's just been spending his time continuing to recover and heal up. i did begin to notice around September 25 that he wasn't constantly wearing his sling anymore, which made sense to me because September 26 marked six weeks from his surgery and that's how long he told the media he would need to wear it for. the Tribe, however, never outwardly verified his ability to perform daily activities without it. (more details about this can be found in the Post-Surgery News/Sling Updates section of the blog below.)
with the guys now playing in postseason October, i'm not sure if/how that will affect Michael's rehab plans. i also haven't heard whether or not he has any upcoming checkups that he'll need to fly down to Dallas for during the playoffs. and honestly, i don't even know if he can be with the team when they're playing at home or when they go on the road. the American League Division Series roster hasn't been set yet, but either way i'm not sure what the policy is on DL players being allowed in the dugout during postseason games. i hope he can be a part of it, and i will feel so bad if he cannot.
and speaking of the team, let me quickly recap their September/October. the Indians kicked off the month in the midst of a homestand (which began in August) with three games versus the Miami Marlins and four games versus the Houston Astros. the Tribe dominated in their last interleague series of 2016 by sweeping the Marlins, but managed no better than a split with the Astros.
after that, the team was scheduled to face only AL Central Division opponents the rest of the way. they went on the road to first play the Minnesota Twins and then the Chicago White Sox. the Tribe went 2-1 in Minny for a series win, but lost three of four games in the Chicago series to finish their trip with a 3-4 record.
once the Indians came back home, they had a nine-game homestand over 10 days featuring three games versus the Detroit Tigers, three versus the Kansas City Royals, and three versus the White Sox. the Tribe won the Detroit series, 2-1, before getting their last day off of the regular season. when play resumed, they looked good and swept KC. then it appeared as though some players were becoming fatigued, which could be the reason they lost the Chicago series, 1-2. nonetheless, they ended their final stint at home with a record of 6-3.
the last road trip of the regular season pitted them against the Tigers and Royals again. initially, the Indians and Tigers were supposed to play four games, but the fourth game was postponed due to non-stop rain and re-scheduled for the day after the regular season only if it was going to have any bearings on the postseason. as a result, the Indians lost the shortened three-game series, 1-2, but the bright side was their one win in the first game made them the 2016 AL Central Division Champs. the Tribe's final series against the Royals was much less complicated and they swept KC in three games for the second time this month, giving them a 4-2 road trip record.
after the Indians won against KC on October 2, the final day of the regular season, the waiting game began. first, Detroit lost their game to the Atlanta Braves, and then the Boston Red Sox lost their game to the Toronto Blue Jays. at that point it was determined that the Indians would not need to make up their postponed game against Detroit because the postseason matchups and home field advantages had already been established. and so they ended September/October with an impressive 18-11 record while playing just 29 of the original 30 scheduled games.
the boys will head home to Cleveland now because they have secured home field in their ALDS series. the opening game versus the Red Sox will be played on Thursday, October 6, with a game time that's still to be announced. Go Tribe!
Post-Surgery News/Sling Updates
note: news and updates on Michael were practically nonexistent this month and what i did finally discover didn't come until the middle of September. i'm lucky i even found what i did because nobody seemed too concerned about him since the Indians were preparing for postseason play.
September 16: there was no written update regarding Michael, but i did come across two photos of him in a cleveland.com photo gallery. here he is on the field behind the batting cage watching Indians batting practice before their game versus the Detroit Tigers. (since he returned to Cleveland after his surgery, i have not noticed him in the dugout during an actual game yet.)
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| photos courtesy of Chuck Crow via The Plain Dealer |
as you can see, Michael's sporting his sling, which is to be expected because he was still 10 days away from the six-week mark that he indicated he'd need to wear it for. admittedly, that apparatus is more complex than i thought it was, what with the two back straps that clip onto the front. i suppose that's a definite way to make sure he's not moving that shoulder around.
the thing that really grabbed my attention though was the band-aid on the index finger of his left hand. maybe his doctor needed to prick his finger for some kind of blood test? i don't know, maybe he accidentally cut himself and i'm reading too much into it. i'm sure it's nothing to worry about, but i caught that immediately lol #1fan
September 17: i actually got to watch this afternoon Tribe game versus the Tigers because it was aired on FOX Sports 1. while announcers CJ Nitkowski and Aaron Goldsmith were discussing Indians injuries, they started talking about Michael. then they showed Michael on the screen and he was standing up, watching the game in between some netting. first, i wondered if this was a shot from batting practice earlier in the day. then i realized, no, this is live. as i've said before, i haven't spotted him in the dugout during home games, but after seeing this, my best guess is he was hanging out over in the walkway of the bullpen area. i don't know where else in the park they have netting like that so that was most likely his location. at least he can't get hit with any foul balls out there. it might be a better place for him until that sling comes off and he's not so "handicapped."
September 20: following the Indians' walk-off win versus the Kansas City Royals, my guess about Michael's game hangout was confirmed. as i was watching Brandon Guyer's postgame interview on indians.com, i saw Michael walking to the dugout after all the bullpen guys had made their way across the field. he's at 1:04 in the video here. i knew it! lol
September 24: i went to Cleveland to see the Tribe game versus the Chicago White Sox and when it was over, i went to the players parking lot to try and get some autographs. during this time, i witnessed Michael walk to his truck, get in the driver's seat, and leave. he still had his sling on and i was somewhat shocked to discover that he drives with it.
September 25: i was also at this game versus the ChiSox, and while it was in progress, i checked to see who was warming up in the Indians bullpen. and low and behold, Michael was standing there, and he did not have his sling on! i thought, well, September 26 is the six-week mark from his surgery, and that's about when he was scheduled to get out of the sling. so, while it was a surprising sight for me to see, this did not seem inconceivable.
but when i once again went to the players parking lot for autographs after the game, Michael did not get in his truck and drive off. in fact, i saw he was with his wife and holding one of his kids and... the sling was back on. his wife and kids left separately and then Michael walked over towards his truck, but didn't get in it. instead, he got in the passenger's side of Josh Tomlin's truck and they left together (without signing autos, if you were curious). i checked all my usual sources for any information about if Michael got clearance to take the sling off while at the ballpark, but came up empty.
Michael's "Safe" Division Clinch Celebration
note: some of this previously appeared in my The Indians Are the 2016 AL Central Division Champions! blog.
on the afternoon of September 26, Jordan Bastian tweeted that Michael made the trip to Detroit with the team, so if there was champagne [because the team clinched the division on the road], he'd be there for the party. before the game, Michael was playing cards at a table in the locker room with Mike Napoli, according to Zack Meisel's cleveland.com article.
as soon as the Indians beat Detroit, 7-4, and clinched the division, i watched a live video online of the players celebrating on the field from the Indians' periscope. during that, they showed Michael without his sling again, but he did have his right arm safely in the pocket of his sweatshirt. once the players got their AL Central Division Champs hats and t-shirts, they put them on happily; all except Michael, who could only "sling" his shirt over his left shoulder. and as he met up with players on the field, they gave him careful hugs.
Meisel divulged in a postgame article on cleveland.com that while everyone began to celebrate with champagne in the clubhouse, Michael had to protect his shoulder. he could not participate in the champagne showers, and had to just stand back and observe all the fun from afar. (that breaks my heart!)
"i can't get hit. i've got to look from the outskirts," Michael explained in Bastian's indians.com article. he leaned up against a wall with his arms folded across his chest and watched the festivities in the visitors' locker room from across the hallway. "to be here, to celebrate with your teammates, with all the hard work all the guys put in together as one, i don't know if there are the right words for it.
"we've been doing it all year. we've just got to rely on one another, and just keep being great teammates and keep pushing forward. we have a great group of guys and teammates. i'm excited to see what we do in the postseason."
Ryan Lewis provided more from Michael in his article on ohio.com. "it's awesome. a lot of hard work pays off. we did a great job of playing this year and getting ourselves to the postseason. and now, we've got to look forward to the postseason. it's a great time to be an Indians fan."
a different article of Meisel's on cleveland.com revealed that during the hoopla, Yan Gomes walked over to where Michael was with a bright red Budweiser bottle. he tilted the bottle towards Michael's mouth and insisted, "we're going to do it slow, we're going to do it slow" as they shared a beer together. awww.
once things settled down a bit, Michael located a safe spot in a corner of the locker room to occupy--or so he thought. Trevor Bauer found him and sprayed him with beer and champagne. you can see that around the 12:00 and 14:00 marks in Bauer's video on sqor.com. (and it appears he had someone help him get his Made For October clinch shirt on lol)
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| screenshot taken from Bauer's sqor.com video |
everyone in the Indians organization believed it was important for Michael to be involved in the celebration despite his lack of play this year. from Lewis' tweet, Terry Francona commented, "hugging Brantley and Gomer and those guys, they're so much a part of what we're doing, even [when] hurt."
Indians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti agreed in a video posted in Paul Hoynes' article on cleveland.com. "even a guy like Michael, who wasn't on the field a ton this year, still had a big impact on our team with his presence."
it was noted in Meisel's article on cleveland.com that Cody Allen made sure to find Michael after the final out was recorded. "i know he hasn't been on the field a whole lot this year, but he's a huge part of this. there are spots in the season where guys are down or in slumps and you can feel the thing going the wrong way, and a guy like Brantley, his voice carries so much weight. he can pack it in mentally and physically and just focus on himself, but he doesn't. he focuses on, 'how can i help in any way, shape, or form?' guys like that are special."
Tyler Naquin acknowledged a similar sentiment in his interview with Indians field reporter Andre Knott on the FOX Sports Ohio youtube channel. in between being showered with beer, he reflected, "even in the last two innings, i sat there and was talking to Michael Brantley about different situations, handling different things. even in a game like that, you know, Mike's always got his eye on something. he's trying to teach somebody something new."
Andrew Miller concurred with his teammates about Michael's importance to the team as well. from Hoynsie's cleveland.com article, he mentioned, "i see Michael Brantley right there. i see Yan Gomes in the background. those guys aren't helping us win today, necessarily, but they're a big part of what's going on right now."
after the mayhem subsided, Michael posed for a picture in the clubhouse with Jason Kipnis and Michael Salazar (Indians assistant athletic trainer):
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| photo courtesy of @MrMexiTrainer on twitter |
"Michael Could Miss Significant Time in 2017" ...Not This Shit Again
six weeks and three days after surgery and the doomsday declarations for 2017 have already begun. facepalm.
on September 29, Jon Heyman posted an article on todaysknuckleball.com reporting "sources familiar with Michael Brantley's shoulder surgery suggest they believe it is quite serious, and that he could in fact miss significant time next season."
what is this based on? there's literally no evidence to support that right now. he hasn't even started a hitting program let alone had a setback that could be considered worrisome. to me, this sounds like an uneducated opinion or, as stated, a "belief," more than a fact. let me remind people that surgery in general, no matter what kind it is, is serious. when you put somebody to sleep and cut them open, that's serious. yet so many people go through it and recover just fine.
and i love how the article tries to back up the allegation with "they had to re-anchor the muscle to the bone." THAT'S WHAT BICEPS TENODESIS IS!!!! don't present that as if it's brand new information that's going to derail his comeback and potentially give fans an unwarranted panic attack. Michael himself specified last month that that's what the procedure entailed for crying out loud. so calm down about it!
Indians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti responded to Heyman through a text that there's "nothing new on Michael. he underwent biceps tenodesis surgery with an expected recovery time of four months."
four months would put him at December 15, and spring training usually begins around mid-February. so if he wanted, he could actually take a little more time off to recuperate and he'd still be able to play in spring (more than he did in 2016).
shall i dissect the rest of this article for you? because it contains some inaccuracies. Michael's surgery took place over six weeks ago, not merely a month ago as Heyman casually wrote. and Dr. Smooth also played in 11 total games this season, not 10. (he pinch hit in one game before being a defensive substitute in left field.) i am a real stickler for details, so if someone gets them wrong, i can't take them seriously. this is a horrible article and, being the distinguished writer that he is, Heyman should have known better than to publish this drivel for attention.
now let me move on to some writers that i trust and respect. as written in Paul Hoynes' cleveland.com article, Antonetti informed the Cleveland media "our expectation is that he'll be ready for spring training. we were told after the second surgery that the timeline (for recovery) would be four to five months. as far as i know, nothing has changed."
Michael, who was still in Detroit following the Tribe's clinch of the AL Central Division, was shown Heyman's article per Zack Meisel's tweet. his reaction? "i'm out again? already? man, maybe he knows something i don't." (via Meisel & Hoynsie's tweets.)
according to Hoynsie's article, Michael shrugged, "maybe (Heyman) has a crystal ball." Bastian's indians.com article added that before leaving the visitors' clubhouse, Michael quipped he'd "see everyone next August." LOL
good to see he has a sense of humor about this stuff. i, on the other hand, do not. is this the same "source" who started the nearly identical rumor back at the Winter Meetings in 2015 after Michael's labral tear surgery? why didn't the source just bust out with this "he's gonna miss more time" BS five minutes after Michael came out of the freaking O.R.? or better yet, why didn't he flat out claim that Michael's career "might" be over and break everybody's hearts? some people evidently love spreading negative rumors where Michael's health is concerned and have no confidence in his ability to come back from adversity. and i'm sick of it. [angry face emoji.]
Team Batting Title Competition
Jose Ramirez represents the final monthly leader, as he had the highest batting average (.327) out of all the qualifiers on the team.
for the season, Francisco Lindor had the highest BA in two months (April and May) as did Ramirez (August and now September/October), while Rajai Davis and Tyler Naquin each boasted it for one month (June and July, respectively).
Versus AL Central Division Teams
when the Indians played the Minnesota Twins, Michael was still on the 60-Day DL with chronic right biceps tendinitis and recovering from season-ending biceps tenodesis (surgery). he missed all 3 games in the September/October series.
when the Indians played the Chicago White Sox, Michael was still on the 60-Day DL with chronic right biceps tendinitis and recovering from season-ending biceps tenodesis. he missed all 7 games in two separate series against this team in September/October.
when the Indians played the Detroit Tigers, Michael was still on the 60-Day DL with chronic right biceps tendinitis and recovering from season-ending biceps tenodesis. he missed all 6 games in two separate series against this team in September/October. (note: 1 game in the final series was postponed and not made up.)
when the Indians played the Kansas City Royals, Michael was still on the 60-Day DL with chronic right biceps tendinitis and recovering from season-ending biceps tenodesis. he missed all 6 games in two separate series against this team in September/October.
Interleague Play
Michael did not play any scheduled games against the National League in September/October, and therefore did not register a batting average in Interleague Play this month.
when the Indians played the Miami Marlins at Progressive Field, Michael was still on the 60-Day DL with chronic right biceps tendinitis and recovering from season-ending biceps tenodesis (surgery). he missed all 3 games against this team in September/October.
September/October Team Leads, Career Highs, & League Rankings
Michael did not have any team leads, career highs, or league rankings in September/October as a result of him not playing in any Major League games this month.
Is Michael Brantley the Next Grady Sizemore?
in the September 3rd edition of Hey, Hoynsie! on cleveland.com by Paul Hoynes, a fan remarked: it is looking more and more that Michael Brantley is going to be the next Grady Sizemore. just when it seems like he's ready to play another injury gets in the way. now he's had yet another surgery on his shoulder.
Hoynsie didn't give much of a reply in terms of a rebuttal. he simply offered that you can't compare the two because Michael is dealing with a surgically repaired right shoulder while Sizemore dealt with several issues in multiple body parts including the groin, elbow, back, and both knees.
i personally think this notion is preposterous. first off, Michael's misfortune surrounds one area, not several different body parts like Grady as Hoynsie pointed out. come on now. quit assuming the worst because you think that's classic Cleveland bad luck. how many years did Sizemore spend rehabbing and trying to get back on the baseball field? and how long has Michael been trying? and you're going to say that's the same? i don't think so.
secondly, Michael's latest surgery was on his biceps tendon, and i think it's safe to deduce that his chronic biceps tendinitis stemmed from his previous surgery for the torn labrum. regardless, the doctors proclaimed his labral repair was intact and looked good, so that's not a problem anymore. that's over, the labrum is fixed. Michael's most recent source of discomfort involved the biceps tendon. and now that it's been operated on and relocated, i don't see why that would continue to bother him next season, especially since he's gonna get extra time to heal and won't be attempting to return during baseball season.
right now, there's no reason not to believe he can't come back from this. his surgery was season-ending, not career-ending. so as much as i didn't really want to entertain this ridiculous theory, i at least needed to get that off my chest.
but if people think otherwise, let me know in a comment below. why do or don't you think Michael can return in 2017 and be the star player he was in 2014 and 2015? enlighten me.
Is Jose Ramirez the Next Michael Brantley?
this is another thing i didn't want to entertain, but when national and local writers really started to push the Jose Ramirez-Michael Brantley parallels this month, i had to speak up. and let me make it known that i am not hating on Jose Ramirez; i think what he's done this year has been fantastic. but i am Michael's #1 fan, and when i see people beginning to clamor that we don't need him anymore because we have Ramirez, i am going to come to my boy's defense.
i'll start the debate with this statistics-filled photograph:
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| photo courtesy of @MLBStatoftheDay on twitter on 9/15 |
right off the bat, i don't like the comparison of Michael's 2015 season to Ramirez's 2016. it's not fair in my opinion because Michael played that year while coping with a lower back strain for much of the season and then shoulder inflammation, and so some of his season stats were down as a result of that. yes, i'm telling you Michael should have done better than he did in 2015 but, unfortunately, his health issues held him back. now, if Ramirez had been playing this year with injuries, would he still have been as productive and put up the same stats? or would he have struggled, and possibly been unable to play so many games and gone on the DL? we don't know, and until i see him face that type of hardship, i'm not confident that he could perform the same way while battling injuries. in contrast, i do have that certitude about Michael because he has done that before and we all saw him do it.
i think a more balanced comparison would be between two seasons where both players were healthy and playing at their absolute best. (sorry T.J. Zuppe, but using Michael's average career stats from the four full seasons he's played in the majors [2012-2015] to compare to Ramirez this year isn't gonna cut it either.) you need to pull Michael's 2014 season and put that in a side-by-side shot with Ramirez. in that scenario, Michael is unmistakably the better player of the two. and that's not a discredit to Ramirez at all, but remember in 2014, Michael not only set many career highs for himself, but he also made Indians history.
my point here is this: Jose Ramirez's emergence as an above average player this season does not mean that he's on the same level as Michael yet because he doesn't have the track record. and it certainly doesn't mean he and Michael are the same player, that Ramirez can replace Michael, or that the Indians should trade Michael Brantley. that would be idiotic. Ramirez should not be an offensive replacement for Michael, he should be an offensive complement to Michael. fans who truly believe that the team would be fine without Michael going forward, before seeing if Ramirez can at least string together two seasons like this one, aren't thinking clearly. the trade talks need to end. i don't want to see those rumors circulating around the internet. it very well may happen in the future, because we all know that the Tribe's front office loves to cut down on payroll anywhere they can, but it doesn't have to happen now. Michael just needs to get back in action so people can see what they've obviously forgotten and be #TeamBrantley once again.
and yes, i'm aware of the preseason predictions made by the MLB pundits, blogged about by August Fagerstrom on fangraphs.com back on August 24, which had many of Ramirez's full 2016 season stats above Michael's. and i'd really like to know how those numbers came to be because i can't seem to figure it out. were they assuming Michael would be a shell of himself for a portion of the year upon his return from his November 2015 shoulder surgery? is that what accounted for the low batting average and home run total? let me assure everyone, Michael has manifested himself as a proven .300 hitter and that is what you can bank on from him when he's healthy.
as for Ramirez, i'm not sure how anyone could anticipate he'd hit over .300 coming into this season. he's never played a full year in the bigs until now, so how would you think he's gonna all of the sudden hit .305 and have a higher SLG than Michael? besides that, nobody knew for sure that Ramirez was even going to be a full-time player this season until it was established that Michael's late April return would only be temporary. sigh. this is why i don't take predictions seriously, cause these defied logic.
you can leave your thoughts about this in a comment below, but i'm telling you right now, if you're part of the Trade Brantley train, i'm not going to approve it lol =P
now let's break down the numbers.
September/October batting average: N/A
OBP: N/A
SLG: N/A
OPS: N/A
Michael played in 0 (of 29*) games in September/October.
(*the Indians originally had 30 games scheduled, but 1 game was postponed due to rain. MLB rescheduled it for the day after the regular season ended, but it was only to be played if the game would have any postseason implications. because the Indians won and the Boston Red Sox lost on the final day of the regular season, that secured the Indians home field advantage in the ALDS, AND also because the Detroit Tigers lost and were eliminated from the AL Wild Card race on the final day of the regular season, the PPD game became unnecessary and was officially cancelled.)
he missed 29 games while he was still on the 60-Day DL with chronic right biceps tendinitis and recovering from season-ending biceps tenodesis (surgery).
now here are my game-by-game notes.
Game /133, September 2: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /134, September 3: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /135, September 4: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /136, September 5: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /137, September 6: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /138, September 7: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /139, September 8: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /140, September 9: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /141, September 10: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /142, September 11: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /143, September 12: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /144, September 13: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /145, September 14: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /146, September 15: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /147, September 16: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /148, September 17: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /149, September 18: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /150, September 20: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /151, September 21: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /152, September 22: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /153, September 23: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /154, September 24: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /155, September 25: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /156, September 26: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /157, September 27: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /158, September 28: still on DL, done for the season.
September 29: game postponed, to be made up October 3 at 1:10 pm, only if game has postseason implications**.
Game /159, September 30: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /160, October 1: still on DL, done for the season.
Game /161, October 2: still on DL, done for the season.
**October 3: game not played because it was not necessary.
in 2016, Michael had 43 plate appearances and 39 at bats in 11 games (89.1 innings). in total, he had 9 hits, 2 extra base hits, 7 singles, 2 doubles, 7 RBI, 1 sac fly, 5 runs, 3 walks, 1 intentional walk, 1 stolen base (3rd), 1 GIDP, 6 strikeouts (3 swinging, 3 looking), 1 first at bat hit, 11 total bases, 14 left on base, 18 putouts, and 1 assist.
2016 season batting average: .231 (9-39)
OBP: .279
SLG: .282
OPS: .561
in case you're unfamiliar with how the end of the regular season affects my blog, let me give a little rundown of what's to come because things are now going to differ from what you've been used to this year. i will NOT be making a "#s Through September/October" blog, but instead will be writing a series of season wrap up blogs. normally, Michael plays a full year and there are a plethora of stats for me to cover, and last year i did something new by breaking everything up into separate blogs. this year, even with Michael's lack of play/numbers, i intend to follow that format.
here is what you can expect from me going forward:
once this blog is live, the next one i plan to post is Brantley's 2nd Half 2016.
after that, the season wrap up blogs will go up. those include:
--Brantley's 2016 Game-by-Game Numbers & Notes
--Brantley's 2016 Batting Order Position & LF/PH #s
--Brantley's 2016 Situational #s & Statistics
i'm hoping to post one blog a day immediately following the publication of the 2nd Half blog, but that will be dependent upon how hectic my schedule gets.
then when the Indians are either eliminated from the playoffs or win the World Series (wouldn't that be amazing?!), i will post these final two Brantley blogs:
--Wrapping Up Brantley's 2016 Season
--Brantley's 2016 Postseason October
that's what i have outlined at this point, but again, things are subject to change. so if you're looking for all the specifics of Michael's overall 2016 season, keep checking back for the new blogs i'll be posting this week.
lastly, i of course will be tweeting/re-tweeting any updates on Michael and his recovery from surgery that come out during the Tribe's postseason run and offseason. therefore, i encourage everyone with a twitter account to follow me @clevelandgirl23. or if you don't have twitter, you can still pull up my page on occasion to check for news.
i will be writing update blogs throughout the offseason as well, just like i did last year, whenever a decent amount of information becomes available. if you'd like to get email notifications for those blogs or when i publish all my upcoming aforementioned Brantley wrap up blogs, you can join my subscription list over on the right side of the blog.
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