Cleveland is already in love with Edwin Encarnacion

On Thursday morning, first baseman Edwin Encarnacion was officially introduced as the newest member of the Cleveland Indians. The ink on his three-year, $60 million contract had finally dried, and the Indians had a press conference to officially announce the signing and give Encarnacion his brand new jersey.

While the official stuff is important (and necessary), Encarnacion knows what’s up. On Wednesday night, he took part in one of the most important unofficial rituals in sports: attending games of the city’s other sports teams. Encarnacion attended the Cleveland Cavaliers’ game against the Chicago Bulls at Quicken Loans Arena, and was introduced to the city in a much different (and relaxed) way.

With seats like that, everyone had to know he was there. But just in case someone didn’t know, the staff at Quicken Loans Arena made sure everyone was aware.

That’s a hero’s welcome if I’ve ever heard one.

It seems like Cleveland already loves Encarnacion, and they have a lot of good reasons. Last year he hit 42 home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays (tied for third in all of baseball), and took his imaginary arm parrot with him for every single one. Over the last five years, he’s hit .272/.367/.544 with a total of 193 home runs.

It’s really just a matter of time until Encarnacion shows up at a Cavs playoff game, just as excited as LeBron James was at Game 7 of the World Series.

We can hope, can’t we?

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher