Cleveland just has never been a really, really big baseball town. Cleveland is a great sports town, but baseball has always been the third banana.
'95 was the perfect storm. The Browns left, the Cavs weren't doing anything significant. And the Indians were finally good. So it caught on like wild fire.
The success of the '90s obviously played a big part in the popularity. But the Indians had just open up a new ballpark, Jacob's Field. You give a hungry sports town that, no Browns, and consistent winning, not a surprise they did so well then.
That doesn't make baseball really popular here though. My dad used to get grouchy over it, and call them fair weather fans. Since he was one of the true fans that would show up nearly every game, in the old Cleveland Stadium, when they were really bad.
But I don't really care, and I don't think he always got the point. Nothing wrong with being a fair weather fan. Do you have to like, and watch everything related to "Cleveland" just because you live in that area? No.
Sports are supposed to be entertainment. And if a loser Indians team doesn't excite, or interest majority of people in North East Ohio, there's nothing wrong with that.
I don't think you can really blame the fans. If people don't want to watch, or go to the game, that's their right. Tickets are expensive. Buying food is pricey. You shouldn't spend countless amounts of money, just to be a "true fan" if it doesn't give you any interest, or excitement.
That doesn't make Indians fans, bad fans. There's just not a large percentage of them. There are still hardcore and faithful true fans that show up no matter what, and support the hell out of the Tribe.
Obviously there are a lot of fair weather, front running fans, too. They exist in all sports. I wouldn't quite put them in the category of the Miami Heat.
Because they're still passionate people, it's just baseball in general is not as popular here as it is in other parts of the country.