The recent victory for the Cleveland Indians against the Minnesota Twins, ending with a score of 5-1, perfectly positioned the Indians for competing for the AL wild card where at least a tie is pretty much guaranteed.

The next phase for the Indians will take place on Wednesday against either Tampa Bay or Texas at Progressive Field. The winner from that game will move on to ALDS to duke it out against the following division champions: Detroit, Oakland, and Boston.

One may expect the team to relish in the recent victory; however, the manager seemed more concerned that the team focus on their strengths and plan to take the process day-by-day.

Terry Francona, the manager of the Cleveland Indians, spoke about the team’s recent win. “Every time you win, it makes the next day that much more important, so we get to show up tomorrow and see if we can win a game. We need to be one run better tomorrow and then we go from there,” Terry said.

The players appeared to enjoy the competition as much as their fans have been enjoying watching the games. “We want to keep this roll going. This is so much fun,” Nick Swisher said.

Scott Kazmir, who has 43 strikeouts in 28 innings, spoke about the importance of getting opposing players to just swing at the ball. “I was able to attack the strike zone and expand. I’m going out there and getting them in swing mode, and once I get two strikes, I have quite a few pitches I’m able to set them down with,” Kazmir said.

If hard work is the epitome of success, Kazmir and his teammates have set themselves up well. “We’re still very hungry, so we’re going out there every day and grinding at-bats and making quality pitches. That’s something we can carry into the postseason,” Scott Kazmir said.

The following video shows an overview of the Cleveland Indians presented by the Major League Baseball Network with talks during the team’s spring training.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g55nlGCnuiE

[Image Via Wikimedia Commons]