With the right hander Rick Porcello on the mound for Boston to begin the 8:10 PM start of game one in the ALDS, Terry Francona will go back to Carlos Santana, who lead off in 86 of his 188 games this year. It is yet to be seen whether or not this will be the case against the left handed David Price tomorrow, but for now, here is the rest of Thursday’s line-up for the Tribe:
| 10/6 | Cleveland | POS |
| 1 | Carlos Santana | DH |
| 2 | Jason Kipnis | 2B |
| 3 | Francisco Lindor | SS |
| 4 | Mike Napoli | 1B |
| 5 | Jose Ramirez | 3B |
| 6 | Lonnie Chisenhall | RF |
| 7 | Coco Crisp | LF |
| 8 | Tyler Naquin | CF |
| 9 | Roberto Perez | C |
| 10 | Trevor Bauer | SP |
As expected, there weren’t any big surprises in tonight’s line-up as it was the typical one vs RHP down the stretch. If there is one contention, it was that Brandon Guyer, who has hit right handers despite being type cast as a pure platoon player, remains on the bench instead of Crisp, who is a complete liability in left field. One positive about having Guyer on the bench is that he is able to pinch hit for Perez against pitchers from either side and, with two other catchers on the bench, the Indians will have no problems replacing him in the field.
For the Red Sox, they have a pretty potent crew going up against Bauer:
| 10/6 | Boston | POS |
| 1 | Dustin Pedroia | 2B |
| 2 | Brock Holt | 3B |
| 3 | Mookie Betts | RF |
| 4 | David Ortiz | DH |
| 5 | Hanley Ramirez | 1B |
| 6 | Xander Bogaerts | SS |
| 7 | Jackie Bradley, Jr. | CF |
| 8 | Sandy Leon | C |
| 9 | Andrew Benintendi | LF |
| 10 | Rick Porcello | SP |
Unlike the Indians after Ramirez, there really aren’t any weak spots in this line-up. They are lead by MVP candidate Betts, hitting third and playing in right field and we’ve all heard far more than enough about Ortiz already. Bradley, Jr. had his best season yet after a couple of poor offensive seasons where he looked like he might be a defense only player and even Leon had a solid season from the catcher spot, especially when you compare his production to what the Indians have had from their backstops this year.
Bauer may have some slight advantage tonight as the Red Sox are only batting four pure left handers, Benintendi, Holt, Bradley and Ortiz and one switch hitter, Leon, while the Indians will be hitting only two right handers, Napoli and Perez, against the right handed Porcello. This factor should continue to favor the Indians into the bullpen as their one, three, five and seven hitters all switch hit and, as mentioned before, Guyer and Rajai Davis are available off the bench.
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