Major League Baseball

The Indians are looking to put their mark on The Year of Cleveland

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:39 p.m. ET

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Believeland is a real place after all.

When MLB released the 2016 postseason schedule back in August and Cleveland fans realized that Game 1 of the World Series would fall on the same day of the Cavaliers' season opener, they all had the same fantasy.

They pictured Quicken Loans Arena filled to the rafters with fans, draped in wine and gold, as those same rafters unfurled the Cavaliers' first NBA Championship banner in franchise history. They imagined the electricity and the emotion from the crowd as LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the rest of their championship squad were presented with gaudy, diamond-filled rings to signify their crowning moment.

Then, moments later, the scene would shift across the street to Progressive Field, home of the American League Champion Indians, as the pageantry of Game 1 of the World Series got underway. The Gateway Plaza in downtown Cleveland would be elbow-to-elbow with fans who were all there to support their winning teams and watch the festivities together on giant TV screens.

Goosebumps. Oh what a sight it would be.

What began as just a fantasy -- really, a far-fetched dream for most -- is now a reality.

On Tuesday, Cleveland will be the epicenter of the sports universe.

It will be the biggest night in Cleveland sports history and maybe even the biggest night in the city's entire history.

One thing is for sure, it's hands-down the best year ever for a Cleveland sports fan and regardless of whether the Indians win or lose, it's incredibly unlikely anything will ever top it.

It will always be the year in which the Cavs pulled off the impossible by becoming the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors and win the NBA Championship. We'll always remember how 1.3 million people flooded the streets of downtown Cleveland to witness the Cavaliers' victory parade. It will always be known as the year that the Indians used the "Cleveland against the world" mentality to shock the world by scrappily playing their way into the World Series.

Sure, the Tribe will have to overcome the odds once again to pull off the final, yet biggest step of their improbable postseason run. But even if they don't, the American League champs have given their fans a summer to remember -- the summer of Cleveland. The year of Cleveland.

Or better yet, simply, The Year.

When retracing the steps of Cleveland sports history, we all know the drill. There's The Shot, The Drive, The Fumble, The Decision … And now, The Year.

It's like the perfect movie script and the only thing that can make it even better is a World Series Championship.

And if the Series goes anything like the rest of the year has for Cleveland, the city will be celebrating once again.

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