The Major League Baseball, referred to by most people as a marathon, not a sprint, has reached the closing kick stage, as the Cleveland Indians have just 15 games remaining.
In fact, when the first place Minnesota Twins come to town Friday night for a big three game series, it will be the beginning of the final home stand of 2019.
Nine more at Progressive Field, and a six game, two city trip to Chicago and Washington, and see if Terry Francona’s squad gets a berth in the post-season tournament.
The Tribe has struggled against both the White Sox and good pitching all season long, so that last week will be a gauntlet to be sure. One thing to hope for is the Nationals might have their playoff spot (they currently hold the top spot in the NL by 2-1/2 games) solidified by the last weekend, putting them in rest/set up their pitching mode for the wild card game.
It would also help if Cleveland can avoid Lucas Giolito for the White Sox series.
As it has been all season, the key for the Indians will be generating enough offense to support the pitching they have had, ranking 2nd in the AL in ERA, just behind Tampa Bay.
We have railed on Jason Kipnis all season long, but no one can doubt the Indians need a strong finish from him, particularly with Jose Ramirez’ injury. The problem is the second baseman has had a 564 OPS vs. teams over .500 compared to 824 against good teams.
Nine of the final 15 games are against the former. They need Kipnis to get hot and stay hot in the final three weeks.
The other player who the Tribe needs to get going is Yasiel Puig. Puig was slugging .475 for Cincinnati (yes, we know about Great American Ballpark) and had an OPS of 777 with the Reds.
He only hit 9 of his 22 National League homers in Cincy.
His OPS for the Indians isn’t far off of that at 759, but instead of driving the ball, he’s been more of an on base guy, at .355 vs. .302 in southern Ohio.
The Indians could use Puig getting hot with the long ball in these last three weeks to help them push runs across the plate.
Puig has 16 RBI in 136 at bats with Cleveland. By contrast, Franmil Reyes, who started slow, has 28 ribbies in 131 at bats. If Puig could start matching Reyes’ production, that would help the lineup immensely.
The other concern is how much gas the bullpen has left.
Brad Hand needs to find the arm slot on his slider, and the sooner, the better. Hitters aren’t swinging at the back foot breaking ball he throws right now, probably because they know it will be a ball.
Hopefully, a few days off will help his tired arm.
Carlos Carrasco was supposed to help and still could, but he’s allowed three HR’s in his five relief appearances since returning to the mound.
The most reliable guys Francona has right now are the two oldest relievers, Tyler Clippard and Oliver Perez.
Clippard, 34, has a 2.25 ERA in the second half, striking out 36 hitters in 32 innings since the All Star Game.
Perez, who just turned 38 recently, has pitched to a 2.57 ERA in 16 innings post All Star break.
The ‘pen needs someone else to be reliable, perhaps Nick Wittgren, a couple of good outings recently, or Nick Goody to get back to where he was in July through mid August.
Or have Carrasco avoid the long ball.
Those are the keys as baseball heads into the stretch run. The Indians are still in the thick of the race, but right now are on the outside looking in.
With a tougher schedule in the last two and a half weeks, Francona needs a few guys to step it up.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 