Cleveland is ready to burst (again)

CLEVELAND – Terry Francona watched the mass of humanity from high above.

Four months ago, the Indians manager watched on a TV from his office at Progressive Field as Cleveland's streets overflowed during a joyous celebration honoring LeBron James and the Cavaliers for winning the NBA title and stopping the city's 52-year-title drought.

There were fans hanging from street signs, clinging to the walls of parking garages — everywhere. Francona wanted another view.

"I went up to the upper deck just because I wanted to watch the parade," he said Monday as the World Series returned from a weekend in Chicago. "From that vantage point, I think they were expecting 700,000 and they about doubled it. And from up in the upper deck you could see the people coming across the bridge in droves."

Francona wants to see them come again.

After missing on their first swing at their first title since 1948, the Indians are home with two cracks at a championship.

Down 3-1 and desperate, Chicago manager Joe Maddon used fireballing closer Aroldis Chapman to get the final eight outs in Game 5 as the Cubs beat the Indians 3-2 at raucous Wrigley Field to extend their season and send this Series packing.

It's the one Cleveland fans have waited to see for 68 years, and would cap a year like no other in the city's sports history, which has been filled with more torture than triumph.

Josh Tomlin, the longest-tenured player on Cleveland's roster, starts Tuesday night against Cubs righthander Jake Arietta, who held the Indians without a hit until the sixth inning in Game 2, a 5-1 Chicago victory.

Tomlin will be starting on just three days' rest for only the second time in his career, but adrenaline and a home crowd of more than 35,000 screaming fans should help him overcome any fatigue.

The righthander was terrific in Game 4, allowing just two hits in 4 ⅔ innings while his dad, Jerry, who is paralyzed from the chest down, watched from behind home plate in noisy Chicago as Cleveland won 1-0. Tomlin threw only 58 pitches, so his arm should be fine. The bigger issue will be stifling the Cubs, who have momentum and will have slugger Kyle Schwarber back in the lineup as a designated hitter after he was reduced to a pinch-hitter during three games played under NL rules.

"I know the atmosphere of this game is not the same, but it's still the same game," he said. "Between the lines it's still 60 foot, 6 inches. It's still 90 feet to first base. It's still baseball. In the grand scheme of things it's still the baseball game whenever the umpire says 'Play ball!' So that's how you have to treat it."

Francona watched the Cavs win Game 7 at Golden State, and found himself cheering wildly at the game's climactic moments — Kyrie Irving's three-pointer and James' chase-down block in the final seconds.

"I had to kind of remind myself I'm 57," he said with a laugh.

Then Francona watched as Cleveland united as never before, 1 million people converging as one to rejoice for a team that lifted a trophy — and then a town.

"There was sheer joy," he said. "I just thought it was really cool. It was hard not to get caught up in it."