LeBron James left Cleveland and media forgot the Indians exist

With LeBron James out of Cleveland, and the Cavaliers’ remaining roster not exactly on track to challenge the Eastern Conference in the immediate future, there’s room for another successful team to take over the Cleveland media cycle.

For some reason, everyone is forgetting that the Indians could be – and actually already are – that winning team. Instead, media outlets have dubbed the Cleveland Browns, who won zero games in 2017 and just four of their last 48 game, the heir to LeBron’s throne:

Just two years removed from a World Series berth, the Indians have a whopping nine-game lead over the rest of the AL Central, and have the fifth-best record in the American League. In addition, they had the best record in the AL in 2017, though they were defeated by the Yankees in the AL Division Series.

The team has taken notice of the media faux pas:

Unless Baker Mayfield and his Browns put in some serious work, it’s safe to say that the Indians will be the ones carrying Cleveland sports for the time being.

But if the Indians need some empathy, they might want to talk to the Chicago White Sox. Their 1917 and 2005 World Series wins were similarly overlooked when the Chicago Cubs were said to have put an end the city’s championship drought in 2016.