One of the unintended consequences of Manifest Destiny, the historic drive to unite the entire continent under American rule, was that once we got both coasts, those of us lucky enough to reside on the East Coast (where it started) or the West Coast (where it ended) deemed ourselves the interesting parts of the country and felt free to ignore everything that happened in parts in between, like Ohio.

In the case of the 2005 race for the American League wild card, that has meant that we’ve heard a great deal about Oakland’s return from the abyss and even more about the local Yankees and their battle to overcome the burdens placed upon them by a payroll large enough to afford them a lot of aged and mediocre players.

Cleveland, though, which began play yesterday in a deadlock with the Yankees and A’s, will probably take the cosmopolitan coastal elites (that is, us) by surprise. The Yankees may have won the season series with the Indians 4-3, but the relatively bargain-priced team actually has a great many advantages in the race for the wild card:

* A LIGHTER SCHEDULE the Indians have six games remaining with the White Sox, six with the Twins, three with the Blue Jays, and three with the A’s. They also have four games with the Devil Rays, six with the Tigers, and six with the Royals. The Yankees have seven games with the Blue Jays, eight with the Orioles, six with the Red Sox, and three with the A’s (significantly, at Oakland). The respite comes in the form of six games with the Devil Rays – who have played the Yankees tough, four with Seattle (at Seattle), and three with the Royals.

* A DEEPER STARTING ROTATION Yankees starters – all thousand of them – entered last night’s game with a 4.70 ERA. Cleveland’s six starters, who have been unspectacular but reliable, have complied a 4.22 ERA. Jake Westbrook leads the AL with a 3.4/1 groundball-fly ball ratio, which takes advantage of the team’s strong infield defense. Kevin Millwood hasn’t received much run support, but he’s been top five in ERA all season long. Sophomore starter Cliff Lee has avoided the second-half collapse that ruined his season last year. The only real disappointment has been C.C. Sabathia, but he has gone 4-0 with a 3.00 ERA in August.

* A MORE RELIABLE BULLPEN Sure, Bob Wickman looks out of shape for a beer league, but the pen as a whole has a 2.82 ERA for the season. Arthur Rhodes and Scott Sauerbeck give the Indians two more competent relievers than the Yankees have. Bob Howry, who’s sporting a 6-2 record and a 3.06 ERA, has been a successful reclamation project extended into a second year. Yankees bullpen ERA: 4.11.

* A STRONG MIDDLE OF THE FIELD The secret of the Torre dynasty has been strength up the middle. Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and the second baseman of the year were so much stronger than anything other teams could offer at those positions that the Yankees could actually be a little weak at the traditional power positions and still win games. With the apparent decline of Posada, the clear decline of Williams, the absence of a strong second baseman after the initial, futile Womacking of the position, and Jeter heading into his postpeak years, this is no longer the case. Meanwhile, with Grady Sizemore (.292 BA/.350 OBA/.483 SLG) in center, Ron Belliard (.285/.326/.428) at second, Jhonny Peralta (.305/.368/.559) at shortstop, and Victor Martinez (.278/.353/.446 after a slow start; .372/.445/.589 in the second half) behind the plate, the Indians have laid claim to the up-the-middle crown.

By pulling into a tie for the wild-card lead, the Indians have served notice. They might make it into October this year, they might not, but in the coming years there is a strong chance that the balance of power will revert to what it was in the early 1990s, when East Coast baseball didn’t matter so much, and Cleveland was the center of the world.

Mr. Goldman is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.