How scary was it to watch Michael Brantley race toward the wall?

Michael Brantley raced toward the wall in the ninth inning of Monday’s win to run down a ball. It was scary as all Cleveland Indians fans held their breath. How scary was it, you may ask?

Very scary. Michael Brantley raced toward the wall. It is not every day that I hold my breath on a relatively routine fly ball on Opening Day. But, when Michael Brantley ran back toward the wall late in the Cleveland Indians’ Opening Day victory against the Texas Rangers, I held my breath.

If Michael would have run into the wall, I probably would have thrown my computer out of the window and screamed in a hissy fit. But he did not. All is well in Tribe land. Brantley had a pretty good game, overall, going 1-for-5 with an RBI and a strikeout. He saw 19 pitches, the third-most in the lineup for the day.

His two-out, ninth-inning RBI gave the Indians a comfortable three-run cushion for Cody Allen and all but sealed the deal on the Opening Day win.

He had three put-outs in left field, and he fielded the ball six times. It was not until the ninth inning on Elvis Andrus‘ triple (Andrus also flied out to left twice), that we really got to see Brantley work for a ball.

I do not think that I will be quaking in my boots this evening like I did last night for the opener. Brantley got plenty of work in, and hopefully he ends up being the everyday, All-Star caliber left fielder we know and love.

It will be interesting to see how much he rests, especially early on. Guys like Abraham Almonte, Austin Jackson, and even Carlos Santana will be looking for time in left field.

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The outfield will be crowded all year, especially when Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis return. Brantley needs to stay healthy to keep the spot he earned out there. Here is to hoping that he keeps his spot and plays 150 games this year.