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Lindor sick of falling short of World Series title: 'I want to finish'

Jason Miller / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Francisco Lindor wants to end the drought.

Despite enormous personal and regular-season success for Lindor and his Cleveland Indians teammates over the last two seasons, a highly coveted piece of jewelry still eludes them.

Cleveland still hasn't won a World Series since 1948 - the longest drought in the majors - despite earning consecutive division titles that included a 102-win season in 2017, as back-to-back playoff runs have ended in disappointment.

"When you don't win, that's what you remember the most," Lindor said, according to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. "To me, last year was fun. We had a great year. But to me, it wasn't a successful season. I want to win. That's not a successful season, because we didn't finish.

"I want to finish."

The Indians have certainly come close, which has made it all the more painful for Lindor. They blew a 3-1 series lead to the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series before losing Game 7 at home in extra innings, and followed that up by blowing a 2-0 series lead to the New York Yankees in the ALDS last fall en route to being eliminated in Game 5.

While Cleveland will enter the 2018 season as the heavy favorite once again in the AL Central, its window to win a World Series could be closing soon. The club lost Carlos Santana, Jay Bruce, Bryan Shaw, and Joe Smith this offseason, while Andrew Miller, Cody Allen, and Lonnie Chisenhall are all set to hit the market next winter.

That isn't deterring Lindor, though, as he has one goal in mind for 2018.

"We ain't curling up, I guarantee you that," he said. "We're going after it, man. We want to win. I want to win. There's no one here saying we don't want to win. Everybody wants to win and finish the thing."

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