1968 Cleveland Indians season

The 1968 Cleveland Indians season was their 68th season of baseball in the American League. It saw their pitching staff lead the major leagues with the most strikeouts while allowing the fewest hits. Despite this, they finished 3rd in the American League, their highest finish in nine years. They would not finish higher than 4th again until 1994.

Off season

October 17, 1967: Jim King was released by the Indians.
October 26, 1967: Marv Staehle was sent to the Indians by the Chicago White Sox to complete an earlier deal made on July 29, 1967.
November 28, 1967: Darrell Sutherland was drafted by the Indians from the New York Mets in the 1967 minor league draft.
November 28, 1967: Eddie Fisher was traded by the Baltimore Orioles with Bob Scott and John Scruggs to the Cleveland Indians for Gordy Lund and John O'Donoghue.
January 27, 1968: Rick Sawyer was drafted by the Indians in the 3rd round of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft Secondary Phase.

Regular season

Transactions

June 7, 1968: Vince Colbert was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 11th round of the 1968 amateur draft.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		115	357	100	.280	4	42
1B		133	477	119	.249	14	59
2B		97	244	59	.242	0	18
SS		154	495	116	.234	6	35
3B		131	452	101	.223	8	37
LF		109	299	84	.281	4	26
CF		157	583	150	.257	7	44
RF		51	180	43	.239	2	13

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	122	361	90	.249	11	44
	103	276	59	.214	3	12
	130	235	51	.217	6	26
	68	217	61	.281	2	23
	65	202	52	.257	5	23
	88	189	44	.233	0	19
	53	111	22	.198	1	8
	38	94	20	.213	0	3
	19	55	12	.218	0	5
	37	54	9	.167	2	5
	38	49	9	.184	0	6
	33	42	6	.143	0	3
	11	15	2	.133	0	3
	17	10	1	.100	0	0
	6	5	0	.000	0	1
	5	3	1	.333	0	0
	6	1	0	.000	0	0
	1	0	0	----	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	38	269.0	15	14	1.81	283
	34	258.1	21	9	1.60	264
	31	206.0	12	10	2.97	146
	32	158.1	8	15	4.15	78

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	44	194.1	13	11	2.50	147
	36	91.2	5	8	3.93	87
	12	31.1	1	1	1.72	24
	2	5.0	0	1	3.60	1

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	40	5	3	12	1.62	54
	54	4	2	4	2.85	42
	28	1	0	1	5.21	16
	17	1	0	1	6.87	5
	5	0	0	0	6.75	6
	3	0	0	0	8.10	2
	3	0	1	0	2.70	1
	3	0	0	0	10.80	0
	2	0	0	0	0.00	1

Awards and honors

'''All-Star Game'''