CLEVELAND, Ohio – Prior to Friday night’s stunning 10-5 victory, the last time the Detroit Tigers defeated the Cleveland Indians “Old Town Road” by Lil NasX, it was the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, Arya Stark still had to kill the Knight King over “Game of Thrones” and “social distancing” was something you usually practice on vacations with your racist uncle.
It was 500 days ago, on April 10, 2019, when Matthew Boyd and the Tigers defeated Trevor Bauer and the Indians, 4-1 at Comerica Park. The Tigers were 8-4 at the young season and a half game better than Cleveland, good for first place in the American League Central Division.
Eric Stamets started that day on shortstop for the Indians, and Max Moroff on second base with Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis on the injured list to open the season. Hanley Ramirez had an RBI double in the sixth for the only Indians run and Bauer knocked out seven while passing a few home games.
Times have certainly changed. Cleveland went on to win the next 20 games against Detroit in unusual ways and the Tigers went up for Spencer Torkleson with the No. 1 overall pick in the player’s first quarterback back in June.
So much has changed since that day with the Indians and with life in general. Bauer now wears a Cincinnati Reds uniform after a mid-season trade. Boyd, Saturday’s starter for the Tigers in Cleveland, is 0-3 with a 9.64 ERA and Taylor Swift has released two (TWO!) Studio albums.
Of course, there are big and important things in the world right now, but here is a list of five things that did not exist before April 10, 2019 to help you remember what it was like back then.
Aaron Civale tipped his hat as he ran to the dugout against the Detroit Tigers.AP
1. Aaron Civale
Sure, Civale existed in the universe, but at that point in the 2019 season he was almost completely unknown to fans of Indians. It wasn’t until his Major League debut 73 days later (against the Tigers) that he burst onto the scene with six scoreless innings and a win. That was victory No. 6 in the region, by the way.
Icons for the smartphone apps TikTok and WeChat are displayed on a smartphone screen.AP
2. TikTok
Previous apps Musical.ly and Douyin date back to 2016, but no one had really heard of TikTok in the United States until well into 2019. Now it’s home to mostly dance tutorials, videos of baseball players played by line-driven and various internet memes are ignored.
The Indians lost an extra resident game to Kansas City on July 25 thanks to the new auto-runner rule.John Kuntz, cleveland.com
3. The Automatic Runner
In an effort to reduce on long extra-inning games, MLB this year adopted the “automatic runner” rule, placing the last hitter to record a second-out outing for any team starting in the 10th inning. The Indians lost their first extra-inning affair when the Kansas City automatic runner scored on July 25, but the Indians were unable to match the inning at the bottom of the inning.
“The Child” from the Disney + series “The Mandalorian” bursts onto the scene in November 2019.AP
4. Baby Yoda
Officially known as “The Child” in the hit Disney + series “The Mandalorian,” the existence of Baby Yoda was a well-kept secret until the show’s premiere episode in November. Although he exists in a universe that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, it still counts.
5. Shane Bieber’s strikeout strut
Bieber was 90 days away from being named MVP of the All-Star Game in Cleveland at the time, but his usual walk around the mound after hitting a hitter was certainly no less noticeable. Since then, the California child has ejected more than 300 hitters and run the rubber many times.
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