The three-game weekend series against the Chicago White Sox could allow the Cleveland Indians to clinch the American Central Division title at home. There’s a good chance that will happen.
Fresh off a three-game sweep against the Kansas City Royals, the Tribe now has a 7 game lead over Detroit (who wrapped up a four-game series with Minnesota). The Indians officially eliminated the Royals earlier this week and decreased the magic number to down to 4 to clinch the division with only Detroit (82-70) remaining in the way.
Cleveland (89-63) will conclude the nine-game home stand that wraps up the final regular season games at home on September 25 against the White Sox (72-80). In all likelihood, the Tigers need to win their final 10 games and hope that the Indians have a total collapse. Realistically, Detroit is battling for one of the two wild card slots in a very tight race.
Two great signs moving forward from the past series with Kansas City were solid starting pitching performances by Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger. Tomlin pitched 6.2 innings in his last start and gave up just five hits and one run and didn’t walk anyone against KC on September 20. Clevinger pitched five strong innings on September 22 against the Royals and gave up four hits and two runs while walking two and striking out four.
If those two pitchers can pitch like that during a run in the playoffs, then the Indians are going to be just fine, especially when the resilient offense led by the clutch hitting of Jose Ramirez continues to find ways to score enough runs to consistently win. Ramirez has been on a tear in the second half and is slashing .330/.374/.464 in his last 30 games. He’s been even better lately slashing .364/.403/.509 in his last 15 games.
Corey Kluber continues to make a strong case for the American Cy Young Award with an 18-9 record along with a 3.11 ERA and 224 Ks in 211 innings. He isn’t scheduled to pitch during the three-game series.
Trevor Bauer (11-8, 4.24 ERA) gets the start against the White Sox for the game at 7:10 p.m. tonight. Chicago will counter with Miguel Gonzalez (4-7, 3.83 ERA). Gonzalez last appeared on September 17 against KC and logged seven innings giving up six hits, three runs and striking out two in the loss. Bauer looks to rebound from a rough outing on September 18 against Detroit when he gave up six runs and 10 hits while walking two and striking out five in 5.2 innings.
Cody Anderson (2-4, 6.24 ERA) will start the 7:10 p.m. game on September 24. Jose Quintana (12-11, 3.26 ERA) will take the mound for Chicago. Quintana last pitched on September 18 against the Royals and hurled four innings and gave up 10 hits and six runs while walking three and striking out one in a loss. Anderson likely will pitch only a few innings as he’s been part of the bullpen for a good chunk of the season. He last appeared in a relief role on September 17 against Detroit and pitch two innings of shutout baseball and gave up just one hit and struck out a batter.
Tomlin (12-8, 4.61 ERA) gets the start for the regular season home finale at 1:10 p.m. September 25. Carlos Rodon (7-10, 4.29 ERA) will take the mound for Chicago. Rodon last pitched on September 19 against the Royals and lasted four innings giving up eight hits, six runs and walked a batter while striking out four.
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