Quick Hit: Offense is Offensive

In case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Indians have managed to get shut-out a few times here and there.  The Tribe has been shut out 15 times this year, which is second in the Majors (LA Dodgers lead with 16) and first in the American League.  How does being shut out 15 times in a year rank in Tribe history?


The Tribe's record for being shutout in a season is 20 times and that occurred in 1968, a year in which the Tribe finished third in the AL East with a 86-75 record.  The Tribe's shutout total did not lead the majors in 1968, they finished 6th.  The LA Dodgers led the league by being shut out 23 times and their were a total of 326 shutouts in the majors that year. The 1968 season was known as the year of the pitcher and to remedy the dominance of pitching the mound was lowered the following year.   Other years of offensive futility weren't masked by winning.  The following table details the seasons where the Tribe was shut out 15 or more times, the corresponding team win loss, the amount of shutouts thrown in the majors that year, and the % of the shutouts belonging to the Tribe.

As fans we probably all have a little John McKay in us.  After another Buccaneer loss he was asked how he felt about his offensive execution and his response was that he was all for it.

I have provided the following link to allow anyone to access the data used to create the Table at https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Avro9wJRzEASdF9fVFFrUURXT2hzTUY2UV8xcTRDZGc&hl=en&authkey=CJrwjNAF