World Series Bound! Cleveland Indians Defeat Toronto Blue Jays, Await Dodgers or Cubs

CLEVELAND, OH - The Cleveland Indians are going to the World Series for the first time since 1997. The Tribe completed their defeat of the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, winning 3-0 in Game 5. The team will now await their Fall Classic opponent, the Chicago Cubs or Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cody Allen closed out the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth and Troy Tulowitzki fouled out to first to end the series and Toronto's season.

The Indians rode a magnificent pitching performance from rookie Ryan Merritt through four innings, reliever Brian Shaw redeemed his abysmal Game 4 appearance with a scoreless inning of work, and Andrew Miller did what Andrew Miller does, throwing 2.2 scoreless innings. Throw in home runs from Carlos Santana and Coco Crisp and, that's how the Tribe claimed Game 5 from the Blue Jays, winning 3-0.

The Dodgers are currently locked in a 2-2 series with the Chicago Cubs. Most pundits have picked Chicago as the team to beat this October. Those clubs will return to action at Oct. 20.

Clevelanders were ecstatic throughout the game, with LeBron James leading the Twitter charge toward the decisive Game 5 victory.

Last Time the Tribe was Here

The story of the Indians' last visit to the World Series is a tragic one, like much of Cleveland's sports history. The team made it to the World Series in 1997, nearly 20 years ago. It's not a fond memory for most Tribe fans. Many baseball talking heads thought the Indians would make quick work of the upstart Florida Marlins. Instead, the series turned into a dramatic seesaw battle that went the distance. In Game 7, this happened:

Tony Fernandez botched a routine grounder. Jose Mesa blew a Game 7 save, becoming part of the rich but disastrous tapestry of Cleveland sports history. And the field, suddenly flooded with fans, became the site of the Marlins' first World Series celebration. That was 19 years ago.

The Tribe last won the World Series in 1948 when player-manager Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Satchel Paige and Larry Doby carried the team past the Boston Braves for the championship.

In many ways, the 2016 Indians have a much stronger resemblance to the '48 squad than the hard-hitting '97 team. Francisco Lindor, the dynamic shortstop, is in many ways the team's best player, similar to Boudreau. Kluber and Feller are probably fairly comparable (though Kluber has had a better postseason than Rapid Robert did that year), and Satchel Paige threw fire from the bullpen, a la Andrew Miller. Tyler Naquin and Doby aren't too different in terms of their contributions, either.

The 1948 Tribe also got a surprising contribution from a rookie pitcher, knuckle-baller Gene Bearden, who won 20 games for Cleveland and was astonishing throughout the postseason. Merritt may have entered that comparison conversation tonight, though Bearden's heroics have frequently been named the Best Rookie Campaign ever.

Ticket Cost

How much are World Series tickets going to cost? Vivid Seats is predicting that Cleveland home games will come with a ticket price of $500; that's the second lowest of any team in the AL. However, if you want to see the team on the road (or you're a Tribe fan hiding in Chicago or Los Angeles) your ticket prices could be significantly higher. The average Cubs World Series seat is going to run you about $1,100. The Dodgers, somehow, are predicted to have an average ticket price of $377.

Sports-pocalypse is Happening

The Cleveland Cavaliers open their season on Oct. 25 at Quicken Loans Arena downtown. The game will undoubtedly be sold out as fans will be desperate to see the unfurling of the town's first championship banner since 1964. The city will be electric with anticipation.

Oct. 25 is also the first game of the World Series. There is a small chance the city will implode that evening.

Twitter Kingdom

Tribe fans have made reliever Andrew Miller into a legend. Here's how fans reacted to his performance, and other members of the team, throughout the game:

Photos by Rick Uldricks, Patch