Aim Low

"We're in it to win it!"

"Anything short of a title this year will be considered a failure."

"CHAMPIONSHIP OR BUST!!!"

Don't these phrases sound great? Isn't this what you want your team to be thinking at the start of the season? Well, I have an answer for you: Fucking no.

The Cleveland Indians have been stating all Winter long that they plan on making the playoffs and being a contender, which was the first clue to me that they weren't going to do that or be that.

In case you missed it, the Indians started off the season by embarrassing themselves with two straight extra inning losses at home to the Toronto Blue Jays who are certainly no Goliath. Really, it was a gift of an opener. An 80-82 team gets to open at home against a mediocre team with no true ace? I'll take it! Additionally, Cleveland got two gifts in this game:

First,the fans witnessed a fantastic start from their young and newly minted "ace," Justin Masterson. To clarify, a great performance out of a starting pitcher is a gift and not some sign of quality play. It's a combination of luck, talent, the a mental state of the pitcher. It's not a good thing to waste.

Second, fan favorite (and Buddies Favorite), "Jungle" Jack Hannahan, hit a 3-run home run with 2 outs. This is a gift because Hannahan is the Indians' 9-hole hitter and is known as a defensive specialist.

Sadly, their closer, Chris Perez (who may or may not have been ready to pitch after an injury during Spring Training; potentially another massive failure by the decision makers in the organization), unravelled in the 9th inning and blew the lead and the save. The Indians did not score a run after the 2nd inning in a game that eventually went 16 INNINGS. Their runs were produced by a groundout by their defensive specialist 1st baseman and a home run by their defensive specialist 3rd baseman. None of their "good" hitters did anything of note in 16 INNINGS. They had two chances to drive in a runner from third with less than two outs to win the game in a walk-off and failed both times.

The two gifts they received on opening day should have proved enough for them to limp into an opening day victory, even on a day in which they generally played poorly. But really, that's the real tragedy here: "Opening Day." The citizens of Cleveland paid money to go to the Cleveland Indians' home opener and their team didn't even have the decency to win.

Just today, the Indians blew another late lead, had poor at-bats with bad results, and never really sniffed anything you might call a "rally." All this while wasting yet another high-quality start by a starting pitcher.

Now that we're caught up, let's get back to the goal of making the playoffs.

This is what can happen when you publicly aim higher than what your team is capable of delivering. Players can overshoot their talents. They'll look at the standings, the scoreboard, the roster, or the stat sheet and say, "Oh no...I need to hit more home runs." That leads to swinging harder than what your swing has always been and instead your own play just coming up short, you lose who you are as a player altogether, and that's no way to play a game this difficult.

The other option? The Indians play no different than they would have played without the "expectations," and the only disappointed people are the fans (also worse than a goal-less scenario).

Two guys set hurdles for themselves to jump over. One sets a high one and one sets a low one. The first guy falls and the second guy makes it over. Now, just because the first guy failed doesn't mean he can't jump higher than the second guy but the fact remains, the first guy is on his face and the second guy is on his feet.

Now I'm not advocating giving up before you start, but you do have to know who you are. The Indians would be better off viewing themselves as a .500 team and an underdog, playing the best they can, and hoping for some luck rather than trying to convince themselves that they are a playoff team by rights.

So far, I see a team that has lied to itself all off season and needed a good start for some cheap affirmation for what they were trying to convince themselves of. The Indians had a lot of breaks to do just that and have squandered every one and I don't believe that they have the talent to dig themselves out of what I see the fallout of these first two games being.

I know it's early, but I'm already aiming low.