Cleveland Indians: SI preview has Indians advancing to 2017 World Series

Sports Illustrated previewed the 2017 MLB postseason, and the Cleveland Indians are primed for a return to the World Series.

Cleveland Indians fans are already expecting the team to return to the World Series in 2017, but the hype extends out beyond the shores of Lake Erie.

SI.com recently shared its MLB postseason predictions, picking the Los Angeles Dodgers to win it all against the Cleveland Indians. The preview sees the Indians taking down the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, with the Dodgers beating the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS.

Indians fans are happy to see any prediction of the team making a return to the World Series, but a championship is the ultimate goal for the team in 2017. Simply making it there was exciting a year ago, but losing two years in a row would be devastating.

Yet it is far too early in the season to assume the Indians are or aren’t the true favorites to win it all. The good news is that the Indians are entering the season as a top contender, which is a drastic change after nearly two decades of mediocrity.

It is even hard to say that the team needs to be fully healthy to win it all, after seeing what happened a year ago, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to enter October with a healthy rotation and the likes of Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis ready for a deep postseason run.

Next: 5 reasons the Indians will win the World Series

Predictions are fun, but fans just want to see some actual games. We are now less than two weeks away from some Indians baseball that counts, so enjoy the rest of March. April is going to start what should be another wild season of Indians baseball.