spent the entire 1994 season with Cleveland, playing in 98 games while hitting .268 with 20 home runs and 52 RBI. With help from the aforementioned core, the Indians held the wild card spot in the American League (AL) and were one game behind the Chicago White Sox in the standings for the AL Central Division lead before the 1994 players' strike forced cancellation of the season's remaining games. During the strike-shortened season, Thome achieved his first career multi-home run game, hitting two solo home runs on June 22, 1994, against Detroit Tigers' pitcher John Doherty. It was not until 1995 that the Indians' success led to a playoff berth. Thome was among the team's leaders at the plate, hitting .314 with 25 home runs and 73 RBI in 137 games, and the Indians finished with a 100–44 record to win the AL Central but lost the 1995 World Series to the Atlanta Braves in six games. Thome hit .211 in the World Series with one home run and two RBIs. Preceding the Indians' 1996 season, sportswriters predicted that Thome would be moved up in the batting order and bat in the sixth position (he had hit anywhere from the fifth to the eighth positions during his first two seasons). During the 1996 season, Thome hit 38 home runs, once hitting a homer at Cleveland's Jacobs Field, the longest home run ever at a Cleveland ballpark. Before their 1997 season, the Indians moved Thome, originally a third baseman, to first base after acquiring third baseman Matt Williams from the San Francisco Giants. That year, Thome helped the Indians set a new franchise single-season record for home runs (220), contributing 40 of them. Thome also totaled an AL-high 120 walks to go along with 102 RBI in 147 games. Cleveland returned to the World Series, but they lost to the Florida Marlins in seven games; Thome hit .286 with two home runs and four RBI in the World Series. 1998–2002 The next three seasons were not as successful as the previous three for either Thome or the Indians. In July 1998, Thome hit his 24th home run of that season while helping the Indians end the Yankees' 10-game winning streak. An article in Sports Illustrated published in July 1998 commented that despite Thome's early career success (two All-Star Games and appearances in two of the previous three World Series), he was