A ballclub can only absorb so many blows before someone goes down for the count. It seemed inevitable that somebody would be held accountable for the Indians' collapse in a season built on so much promise.

Cleveland dismissed Manny Acta from his duties as manager on Thursday. Sandy Alomar Jr. -- beloved in the clubhouse and by the Indians' fan base -- was promoted to the role of interim manager after serving as Acta's bench coach this season.

"Manny is a tremendous person with great baseball experience and an unparalleled work ethic," Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said. "Every day he was here, he worked tirelessly to make the organization better. Unfortunately, our results on the field fell short of our expectations.

"We're disappointed that we weren't able to win more consistently under Manny's leadership, but we we felt a new approach at this point will give us the best chance to have success moving forward."