One more series, one more win as the Indians continue their path to mediocrity. As they continue to lose two out of every three games, the goals for the rest of the season are dwindling.
End of Season Goals:
- Masterson to .500: with a loss in his last game, Masterson is now not able to get back to .500 this year. He will still lead the team in wins by season end, but a teams ace should be able to win more games then he loses during the season.
- 43 Saves for Pure Rage: Another Indians win without a save opportunity leaves Perez still needing 7 to reach 4th all time as an Indian. With such a small market for error (just nine games left this year) this goal needs to be made a little more modest again. Perez needs just 4 more saves to tie Mike Jackson for 5th all time in single season saves. At this point, something that was once slightly exciting has turned into another hum-drum event.
- Not losing 100 Games: Everyone get your party streamers and silly string out. The Indians beat the Royals yesterday to get to that ultimate plateau of 63 wins, keeping them from losing 100 games in a season where they lead the Division for almost half the year.
September 24th, 8:10 PM ET: Zach McAllister, RHP, 5-8, 4.31 ERA vs Chris Sale, RHP 17-7, 2.82 ERA
With 17 wins and an ERA under 3.00, Chris Sale is still very in the American League Cy Young race. His biggest competition currently include Justin Verlander, David Price and Jered Weaver, all who have lower ERAs than Sale while all but Verlander have better records. A strong win against the Indians would help pad Sale’s stats giving him even more motivation before this game if trying to win the division is not enough.
September 25th, 2:10 PM ET: Corey Kluber, RHP, 1-4, 5.36 ERA vs Francisco Liriano, LHP, 3-1, 5.09 ERA
Kluber will have two more starts this season to impress the Tribe enough to earn a Spring Training invite next season. His last start was pretty good as he allowed just three runs over 6 innings, but his overall seasons’ performance has been unimpressive enough to make the Indians miss Derek Lowe (that is an overexaggeration, the Indians will never miss Derek Lowe). There are always mid-low level starters available in the free agent market or for trade (see Kevin Slowey last year), so Kluber needs to work hard just to be considered for next year.
Make sure to note the starting time for this game (1:10 PM CT) or you could miss this great match-up.
September 26th, 8:10 PM ET: Justin Masterson, RHP, 11-15, 4.97 ERA vs Jake Peavy, RHP, 11-12, 3.40 ERA
In the battle between pitchers who were better at some point earlier in their careers and have been disappointments this season, who will win. Who will care that this game is even happening. Spoiler Alert: Question 1: The White Sox. Question 2:The Detroit Tigers.
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