Claim: In the 1987 season, the Cleveland Indians were being predicted by several publications such as Sports Illustrated (an American sports magazine owned by Authentic Brands Group), as the best team in baseball on the back of their two 30+ home run hitters, but fall well short of SI's bold prediction despite the presence of 300 game winners Phil Niekro and Steve Carlton as they were not above .500 even once all season, and an 8-20 May ended any realistic hope of contention.
Evidence: The Cleveland Indians finished in seventh place in the American League East. Sports Illustrated magazine predicted that the Indians would finish in first. Sports Illustrated (SI) is an American sports magazine owned by Authentic Brands Group, and was first published in August 1954. During the 1986 season, the team had an 84-78 record, its best since 1968, and attendance of 1.47 million, its highest since 1959. Sluggers Joe Carter and Cory Snyder were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated on April 6, 1987, with the headline "Indian Uprising". The Indians were being predicted as the best team in baseball on the back of their two 30+ home run hitters. What sports writers overlooked was that Cleveland had the worst performing pitching staff in the majors, despite the presence of 300 game winners Phil Niekro and Steve Carlton, as well as Tom Candiotti (with Niekro and Candiotti, Cleveland had two starters whose main pitch was the Knuckleball). The 1987 Indians would fall well short of SI's bold prediction. They were not above .500 even once all season, and an 8-20 May ended any realistic hope of contention. They finished 61-101, the worst record in all of baseball.