The Indians are down to their final six (plus three outs) games of the season and by some miracle of luck, have not been eliminated from play-off contention yet. Not only that, they now have their destiny in their own control, as much as is possible at this point of the season. There are three teams ahead of them trying for two Wild Card spots and the Indians are lucky enough to be playing three games against one of those teams. The first 3.1 games will be against the Royals, then after an off-day on Thursday, they will finish things off with three more against the Rays.

The first game on Monday will take place at 6:05 PM and will finish up the Indians and Royals match from August 31st. Thanks to a two out, two run double in the tenth inning from Lonnie Chisenhall, they will be heading to the bottom of the tenth with a two run lead. Even though the game started in August, full September rosters are allowed, although T.J. House, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen have already pitched and cannot reenter the game. Kyle Crockett is the announced pitcher for the upcoming inning, but does not need to pitch. Mike Moustakas, Erik Kratz and Alcides Escobar are due up in the bottom of the tenth as the Indians can make up a full game if they can retire the Royals without allowing two runs.

Assuming the first game ends as quickly as it is expected to, the Indians will play the originally scheduled game at 7:05 PM. Left hander Danny Duffy will be making his first start since missing three with shoulder inflammation for the Royals. He will be pitching against Danny Salazar, who has been fantastic in six of his last seven starts, posting an ERA of 2.74 with 43 strike outs in 42.2 innings over that span. Game two will feature Royals’ rookie Yordano Ventura against Indians’ rookie Trevor Bauer at 7:05 PM Tuesday night. The finale will be at 7:10 PM on Wednseday, featuring the final start of the season for Carlos Carrasco and veteran lefty Jason Vargas.

Thanks to losses last week to the Angels, Astros and Twins, the Indians will now have to sweep all four games against the Royals to have any chance of the postseason. Of course, they also need to surpass either the Athletics or Mariners, so the season is actually on the line for both teams. If the Indians split the series or win 3-1, it would almost certainly be enough to keep the Royals out of the play-offs, depending on how the Angels play. Los Angeles’ final six games of the year come against Oakland (9/22-24) and Seattle (9/26-28) and if they can win four of the last six, it would be all the Indians would need in addition to the Kansas City sweep. In addition, the Mariners other four games are against the formerly contending Blue Jays, who may still have enough to at least split the series and let the Indians make up some ground.

After the Royals, the Indians will play their final three games of the season against Tampa Bay, starting on Friday night at 7:05 PM. Saturday will be fan appreciation night with fire works and will begin at 6:05 PM with Sunday’s finale starting at 1:05 PM. Assuming the Indians win the series against Kansas City (at 3.5 games behind, a sweep would put the Indians 0.5 games ahead), this series with the Rays will essentially be an early play-off. With at least two teams to surpass, the Indians will almost certainly need to win at least six of their final seven, which would mean two of three from the Rays.

This isn’t the first time the Indians have faced Tampa late in the year with the season on the line. Everyone remembers that the two teams met in a one game play-off in 2013 that lead to an early exit from the play-offs for the Tribe, but the two teams met in the last week of 2005 as well. That year, the Indians played the last place Rays from September 27th through 29th, coming into the series with a half game lead in the Wild Card and just two games behind White Sox in the Central. Of course, the Indians ultimately lost the series against the Rays, thanks to a rare error from Grady Sizemore and missed the postseason all-together when they were swept by the White Sox to end the season. This shows how dangerous an already eliminated team can be in a series like this and the Indians will need to be cautious in this final series.

If you are interested in seeing any of this week’s Indians games in person, use our link to go to TicketMonster.com, where they have great deals for seats with no fees.

Who’s Hot – Who’s Not

The Indians didn’t score a whole lot of runs this week, but those that were scored were mostly thanks to Yan Gomes. Gomes knocked in nine of the 24 runs scored and hit two home runs. His .836 OPS was second for the week behind Michael Brantley and he hit one of two triples during the past seven games, although he was aided by some poor defense from Oswaldo Arcia.

As the lead-off hitter, Michael Bourn had more at bats this week than any other player, but batted just .219 and hit just two extra base hits. While Terry Francona loves his veterans, there may be some point when he needs to move Bourn out of one of the most important spots in the lineup.