Indians Not Intimidated By Orioles Baltimore’s Big Year Doesn’t Faze Cleveland

Call it a case of role reversal.

When Cleveland and Baltimore met in the postseason a year ago, the Indians owned the best record in the league and were a heavy favorite to win the playoff series. Now, the Orioles are the class of the American League.

Baltimore won a league-best 98 games, stayed in first place all season and beat Cleveland six times in 11 games. Unfortunately for the Orioles, the only advantage that brings in the A.L. Championship Series is one extra home game. It’s the same edge the Indians had last year in the division series, when the Orioles came in as the wild-card team and ousted Cleveland to advance to the ALCS.

In other words, the slate will have been wiped clean when the teams begin play tonight at Camden Yards.

“Both teams have gone through a lot to get here,” Orioles general manager Pat Gillick said Tuesday. “Throw the other stuff out the window. You start all over when you get here.”

It’s a lesson the New York Yankees got in the division series, when the Indians - who won 10 fewer games than New York in the regular season - eliminated the Yankees to advance to the championship series for the second time in three years.

Cleveland must be considered the underdog in this series, too, given the Orioles’ dominance of the A.L. and their ability to make quick work of the Seattle Mariners in the division series.

But the Indians are riding a crest of emotion after dispatching the Yankees, and that means a lot. Last year, the Orioles rode momentum into the playoffs after clinching a wild-card berth on the penultimate day of the season.

“I like it like this,” said Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove. “We’re here, let’s play. There’s not much to think about.”

The Indians certainly won’t be thinking about how Baltimore won 12 more games than they did. And they sure won’t be intimidated by the Orioles’ wire-to-wire run in first place.

“I don’t see either team having an advantage,” Hargrove said. “Both clubs had to do something right to get this far. Besides, we know them and they know us.”

Had the Yankees won the decisive Game 5 on Monday night, the Orioles would have been motivated in part by revenge, because it was New York that ousted Baltimore from the playoffs a year ago. Now, it’s the Indians who are in a position to avenge a disappointing postseason defeat.

“Hopefully, we go in with a chip on our shoulder and say, ‘Hey, the Baltimore Orioles beat us last year. Let’s try to get some revenge,”’ said first baseman Jim Thome.

The Orioles’ lone source of motivation is getting into the World Series for the first time since 1983.

“You cannot be thinking about what happened last year,” said second baseman Roberto Alomar. “We have to think about what we can do this year to beat the Cleveland Indians. They’re a better team than they were last year. But we are, too.”