Line-Ups Posted for ALCS Game 5

The Indians have their second chance to clinch the American League pennant today as they face off with Toronto in game five of the ALCS at 4:08 PM on TBS.

With the right handed Marco Estrada back on the mound for the Blue Jays, the Indians will be sending out nearly the same line-up as in game 4 with one big exception:

Instead of Napoli at first with Santana playing DH, Terry Francona has flipped the pair for the first time in the post-season. While this may seem backward, it actually is the way it should have been the whole time and is particularly important for a left handed ground ball specialist. Santana was significantly better defensively at first base than Napoli all season, beating him in range (3.9 runs saved compared to 1.5), double play turning (0.0 to -0.7) and fielding percent (.991 to .986). Francona may call this a half day off for Napoli, but it’s what many Indians fans have been asking for since at least August.

As for the other change, Merritt pitching for the first time in the post-season, we have no clue what to expect. He pitched well in the regular season, particularly in his extended appearances with 4.1 scoreless innings against Texas in his debut and five one run innings against Kansas City in his final appearance. However, he only made four appearances in the regular season and hasn’t pitched since his first career win against the Royals on September 30th. Merritt is more of a finesse pitcher, so the long lay-off won’t necessarily help and even if he pitches well, he could be limited to three or four innings because he hasn’t pitched in so long. Expect another bullpen game like Monday.

While Michael Saunders has arguably been the Jays best hitter so far in the ALCS, batting .385 in all four games with one of their two home runs, he will ride the pine today as John Gibbons goes for the platoon advantage with Upton at DH. The only other change as the Blue Jays face the first left handed pitcher not named Andrew Miller in the ALCS is the light hitting defensive specialist Barney replacing Ryan Goins at second base.

It’s not like Goins is a slugger himself and against LHP Barney has an OPS advantage of more than .200 points over the left handed Goins. In any case, the Blue Jays are greatly missing regular starter Devon Travis, who will miss the rest of the post-season with a knee injury. Of course, considering Merritt is making his second career start in game five of the ALCS shows how little room for complaining about injuries the Jays have.