1998 Cleveland Indians season

The 1998 Cleveland Indians season was the 98th season for the franchise and the 5th season at Jacobs Field.
The Indians hoped to improve upon their American League pennant-winning season of 1997, but succumbed to the New York Yankees in the ALCS in six games. The Indians would lead the AL Central wire-to-wire in 1998, becoming the first team in franchise history to do so.

Offseason

November 12, 1997: Paul Assenmacher was signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.
December 1, 1997: Matt Williams was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Travis Fryman, Tom Martin, and cash.
December 8, 1997: Kenny Lofton signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.
December 8, 1997: Marquis Grissom was traded by the Cleveland Indians with Jeff Juden to the Milwaukee Brewers for Mike Fetters, Ben McDonald, and Ron Villone.
December 8, 1997: Dwight Gooden signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.
December 20, 1997: Dave Weathers was selected off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds from the Cleveland Indians.

Regular season

Transactions

April 14, 1998: David Bell was selected off waivers by the Cleveland Indians from the St. Louis Cardinals.
May 6, 1998: Mark Whiten was signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.
June 2, 1998: C.C. Sabathia was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 1st round of the 1998 amateur draft. Player signed June 29, 1998.
July 2, 1998: Rex Hudler was signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.
August 13, 1998: Cecil Fielder signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.
August 31, 1998: David Bell was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Seattle Mariners for Joey Cora.
September 18, 1998: Cecil Fielder was released by the Cleveland Indians.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; Slg. = Slugging average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	Slg.	SB
C	Sandy Alomar Jr.	117	409	45	96	6	44	.235	.352	0
1B	Jim Thome	123	440	89	129	30	85	.293	.584	1
2B	David Bell	107	340	37	89	10	41	.262	.424	0
3B	Travis Fryman	146	557	74	160	28	96	.287	.504	10
SS	Omar Vizquel	151	576	86	166	2	50	.288	.372	37
LF	Brian Giles	112	350	56	94	16	66	.269	.460	10
CF	Kenny Lofton	154	600	101	169	12	64	.282	.413	54
RF	Manny Ramirez	150	571	108	168	45	145	.294	.599	5
DH	David Justice	146	540	94	151	21	88	.280	.476	9

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Mark Whiten	87	226	64	.283	6	29
Richie Sexson	49	174	54	.310	11	35
Pat Borders	54	160	38	.238	0	6
Shawon Dunston	62	156	37	.237	3	12
Jeff Branson	63	100	20	.200	1	9
Enrique Wilson	32	90	29	.322	2	12
Joey Cora	24	83	19	.229	0	6
Gerónimo Berroa	20	65	13	.200	0	3
Einar Díaz	17	48	11	.229	2	9
Jeff Manto	15	37	8	.216	2	6
Cecil Fielder	14	35	5	.143	0	0
Torey Lovullo	6	19	4	.211	0	1
Alex Ramírez	3	8	1	.125	0	0
Russell Branyan	1	4	0	.000	0	0
Jolbert Cabrera	1	2	0	.000	0	0
Matt Luke	2	2	0	.000	0	0
Jacob Cruz	1	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Charles Nagy	33	210.1	15	10	5.22	120
Bartolo Colón	31	204.0	14	9	3.71	158
Dave Burba	32	203.2	15	10	4.11	132
Jaret Wright	32	192.2	12	10	4.72	140
Dwight Gooden	23	134.0	8	6	3.76	83
Jason Jacome	1	5.0	0	1	14.40	2

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Chad Ogea	19	69.0	5	4	5.61	43

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Mike Jackson	69	1	1	40	1.55	55
Paul Assenmacher	69	2	5	3	3.26	43
José Mesa	44	3	4	1	5.17	35
Paul Shuey	43	5	4	2	3.00	58
Eric Plunk	37	3	1	0	4.83	38
Alvin Morman	31	0	1	0	5.32	16
Ron Villone	25	0	0	0	6.00	15
Doug Jones	23	1	2	1	3.45	28
Steve Reed	20	2	2	0	6.66	23
Tom Martin	14	1	1	0	12.89	9
Jim Poole	12	0	0	0	5.14	11
Rick Krivda	11	2	0	0	3.24	10
Steve Karsay	11	0	2	0	5.92	13
Tim Worrell	3	0	0	0	5.06	2
Mark Whiten	1	0	0	0	9.00	3
Jason Rakers	1	0	0	0	9.00	0

Award winners

'''All-Star Game'''