Star Studded Tribe Goes To Washington.

For the second consecutive season, the Cleveland Indians are sending five players to the All Star Game, the Midsummer Classic for all you seamheads out there.

Corey Kluber, Francisco Lindor, and Michael Brantley are all making their third appearance on the roster, and Jose Ramirez is making his second straight start at third base. Trevor Bauer will be the lone rookie among the Cleveland contingent.

For Lindor, it should be noted that the only Indians’ shortstop who have made more appearances on the team is Lou Boudreau. That’s it. The former American League MVP was named seven times, and that was when there were only eight teams in each league.

This is only his third complete big league season, and already he has made the All Star team each year, and has finished in the top ten in the MVP voting twice, and he will likely do the same this season.

He leads the AL in runs scored this season and is the only player in the top ten of both offensive and defensive WAR in the league.

We have said it before (after the 2016 season), if Lindor plays for the Indians for ten or more years, he will be universally recognized as the greatest position player in Indians’ history.

Only four starting pitchers in Tribe history have made more All Star rosters than Kluber, who should be in the mix for a third Cy Young Award this year. That quartet would be Bob Feller, Bob Lemon (both in the Hall of Fame), Sam McDowell, and Mel Harder.

Since the beginning of 2016, Kluber has a record of 48-17 and has struck out 615 batters in 545 innings. Right now in major league baseball, there are four elite starting pitchers–Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, and Corey Kluber.

That’s how good he has been over the past two and a half seasons.

Ramirez’ election reminds everyone that he’s on the map as one of the sports’ elite players. He will join Lindor in the top ten in the MVP voting this season, and last year finished third.

Many thought he had a career year in ’17 (which would be weird since he was just 24), but he is on pace to do even better this season. This season, he has become someone opposing teams want no part of, being intentionally walked eight times already this year. He received that treatment five times all of 2017.

Brantley’s selection is a reminder that the front office made the correct decision in picking up his option for this year when many (us included) thought they shouldn’t.

He is simply one of the most consistently great hitters in the game over the past seven years, never hitting below .284 in that span, and hasn’t had an OPS under 800 over the last four years.

He may never get back to the 2014 season where he had 67 extra base hits, but he is a perfect guy to hit between Lindor and Ramirez at the top of Terry Francona’s batting order.

We are thrilled for Bauer’s selection because he has taken a lot of crap over the years, simply because he’s different from most major league baseball players.

The Indians got him in a trade with the Diamondbacks because Arizona thought he was difficult. He struggled with control issues with Cleveland, leading the AL in walks in 2015, a year in which his ERA was 4.55.

But last year in the second half, he put it together and went 10-2 with a 3.01 ERA. He has continued that performance thus far with a 2.45 ERA to date.

He is a true student of pitching, which he shares with the rest of the Tribe starters.

Congrats to the Tribe’s five all-stars! Here’s hoping they will have another national stage to perform in this fall.

Why Tribe Shouldn’t Move Top Prospects

The Cleveland Indians seem to have a firm hold on the American League Central Division, leading by 7-1/2 games mainly because no one else in the division can play .500 baseball.

Coming into this season, winning the Central was kind of a foregone conclusion, and no doubt the organization feels like it has bigger fish to fry. This makes the July 31st trade deadline very important.

What kind of splash can president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff make by that date?

While many fans feel the window of opportunity is closing on the Indians, we do not feel that way. As long as you have Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, etc, you will have a chance to compete for a championship.

We all know the Tribe cannot spend money like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, or Dodgers. That doesn’t mean they can’t compete for free agents, but it does mean they aren’t going to have a $200 million payroll anytime soon.

If you want to keep players like Lindor and/or Ramirez, who the organization drafted or signed as a free agent, develop them, and watched them turn into among the best players in the sport, and still be competitive, you must have a productive farm system.

That’s why we would be very careful about trading valuable prospects for players who could leave after two months.

It’s also why we would not want to move Francisco Mejia, who we believe will be an outstanding big league hitter, perhaps on the level of Lindor, Ramirez, or Michael Brantley.

To have a player like that, under club control for six years before free agency, helps you spend the money you will need to come up in a few years to keep Frankie Lindor an Indian for the majority of his career.

That’s why prospects are perhaps more important to the Indians than they are to many teams also looking to add pieces at the deadline.

This does not mean Cleveland will not make a deal. Two years ago, they moved one of their top prospects, OF Clint Frazier, to New York for Andrew Miller, who was not eligible for free agency for 2-1/2 years.

That’s why relief pitchers like San Diego’s Brad Hand (signed with a club option through 2021) or Baltimore’s Mychael Givens (not a free agent until 2022) make sense for the Tribe.

They would be willing to move a good prospect for either, but we still wouldn’t include Mejia or starter Triston McKenzie because they have the potential to be elite performers.

The Indians still have some good prospects that would make sense for them to deal, most notably three guys whose primary position is shortstop: Erik Gonzalez, Yu Chang (22 years old–715 OPS at Columbus), and Willi Castro (21 years old–670 OPS at Akron).

This trio isn’t playing in Cleveland any time soon with Lindor on the roster.

Yandy Diaz, an on base machine, is another potential trade chip, although we would prefer that the Tribe find a place for him on the big league roster.

One of the trio of Shane Bieber, Adam Plutko, and Shao-Ching Chiang could be moved, so could slugging 1B Bobby Bradley.

The point is the Indians have prospects to offer without giving up their two best guys.

As we said before, the front office might be willing to move one of these top prospects, but it should be for a player they will be able to have on the roster for more than the last two months of the season.

In our opinion, the Tribe need to hold on to players like Mejia to control the future payrolls.

Tribe’s Stars Are Offset By Some Horrific Performances

So far, the 2018 baseball season has been filled with question marks for the Cleveland Indians. They have been solid offensively, ranking 4th in the American League in runs scored.

Four-fifths of the starting rotation has been very good, with Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer having all star first halves of the season, yet the pitching staff’s ERA ranks 8th in the AL, mainly because the bullpen has been dreadful for a good portion of the season.

Yet, the Tribe is just 36-33 on the season. They lead the AL Central Division by 2-1/2 games, but that is mostly because the division is probably the worst in the majors.

They have struggled mightily against the other teams in the AL with winning records, going 6-14 vs. Houston, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. And that can be expanded to 8-20 if you include the Indians struggles against the Twins.

On the other hand, they did take six of eight against the two leaders in the NL Central, the Brewers and Cubs.

So, they have dominated the bums, which good teams are supposed to do, with a record of 22-11 against everyone else on the schedule.

Offensively, the top three hitters in the batting order, Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Jose Ramirez, are having fabulous seasons. On the other hand, the positions of second base and centerfield are black holes in terms of hitting.

At what point do the Indians reconsider there loyalty to Jason Kipnis? We attributed last season’s struggles to injuries, but this season, Kipnis has had 250+ plate appearances and is batting just .198 with a 580 OPS.

It might be time to start mixing in Erik Gonzalez at second, or maybe bring up Yandy Diaz to play some at the hot corner with Jose Ramirez moving to the keystone.

Centerfield is another matter. Bradley Zimmer started the year, but he had extreme contact problems, fanning 44 times in 114 plate appearance. He was sent to the minors after recovering from an injury and because Greg Allen was hitting, but as soon as Zimmer left, Allen went into a deep slump.

So Terry Francona has returned to his 2016 platoon of Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis. Naquin has hit very well thus far, but Davis is showing his lone offensive skill right now is stealing bases.

What is being demonstrated right now, is the Indians have a number of dead spots on their 25 man roster, and no matter how great the performances of Lindor, Brantley, Ramirez, Kluber, Bauer, and Mike Clevinger have been, they have kind of been balanced by mediocre jobs by the bottom of the roster.

We aren’t including Kipnis in this group right now, but certainly Davis, and relief pitchers Josh Tomlin and Tyler Olson have basically unusable right now.

No one is asking these guys to produce like all stars, but they can’t be this bad either. It’s like Francona goes into each game with 22 players, with the other team having a full compliment of 25.

The way Tito likes to have specific roles for everyone, it puts the Indians at a disadvantage.

Of course, some of this is because of Francona’s famed loyalty. Davis has an OPS of 573 and isn’t a great defensive player, particularly in CF, anymore.

And having a pitcher on the roster who has allowed 18 home runs in 39 innings, and is a guy you are afraid to bring into a game where you have the lead, is ridiculous.

Until this is corrected, we are afraid the Cleveland Indians are just going to tread water, which they have done all season. Everyone has to be pulling in the same direction.

One Third Of The Way In, Tribe Kind Of Treading Water

On the eve of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Cleveland completed the first third of their schedule with a 9-1 win over the White Sox, a game in which Corey Kluber earned his 8th win of the season.

That win made the Tribe 29-25 after 54 games, and in the last 27 games, Terry Francona’s squad went 14-13, slightly less than the 15-12 in the first 27 contests.

The offense is back on track, jumping up to third in the American League in runs scored per game. They are sixth in on base percentage and third in slugging as a team.

Unfortunately, they are ninth in the league in staff ERA, and that’s despite having three starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.14 (Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Mike Clevinger).

The offense has been led, or maybe a more apt phrase is carried, by Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, and Michael Brantley, who have formed a lethal top of the order.

Ramirez and Lindor both rank in the top five in the AL in extra base hits, the former is tied for second in the league in home runs, and the latter is tied for third in doubles.

And all three are in the top ten in OPS, with Ramirez ranking 4th, Lindor 7th, and Brantley 8th.

Edwin Encarnacion has gotten hot with the weather, now ranking in the top ten in the league in home runs with 14.

With Lonnie Chisenhall, Brandon Guyer, and Tyler Naquin getting ready to come back from injury, Francona and the staff will have difficult decisions to make in terms of the roster.

Rookie Greg Allen is making it very tough for the decision makers. Not counted on to be a big contributor this season, the switch-hitter has hit .286 thus far, and has cut down on strikeouts over the last 11 games.

When the injured return, you have to think it will be difficult for Rajai Davis to keep a roster spot.

The problem for the pitching staff continues to be the bullpen, as 43% of the runs the Indians have allowed this season have come in the 7th inning or later. In addition, the relievers have coughed up more than a third of the dingers allowed by the pitching staff (28 of the 82) so far in 2018.

We thought Zach McAllister was prone to the gopher ball last season, allowing eight in 62 innings. To date this year, he has allowed six in 21-2/3 frames.

Although he hasn’t been primarily a reliever, Josh Tomlin has allowed a whopping 18 round trippers in 36 innings. He’s pitched in 12 games, and only NOT allowed a homer in four of them.

He leads the league in that category despite pitching 26 innings less than anyone else in the top five.

We understand the front office is aware of the problem, and brought in veteran Oliver Perez yesterday, and it may be the trade deadline before a permanent solution is sought, but until it’s fixed, it will be a very nervous time for Tribe fans in the late innings.

Yes, it’s true the Indians are 2.5 games ahead in the AL Central. It’s also a fact that the second place team, Detroit, is in rebuilding mode and isn’t even over .500 for the young season.

Cleveland was supposed to be one of the four best teams in the American League heading into the season, so from that standpoint they’ve underachieved.

On the other hand, if the Tribe fixes its bullpen, there is no reason they can’t make a deep run in the post-season with their starting rotation and hitting.

Perhaps in the next 27 games, we will start to see answers for the relief corps.

Tough Decisions Coming For Tribe.

The Cleveland Indians have played 50 games this season, and it seems like they have been in a scrambling mode since the opener in Seattle.

Yes, there have been constants. The lineup has been buoyed all season long by their version of “The Big Three”: Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Jose Ramirez. That trio are the only three players currently on the roster with OPS over 800, outside of Erik Gonzalez, who rarely plays.

The starting rotation is also been a constant as well, as Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, and Mike Clevinger have provided Terry Francona with a chance to win every night.

The rest of the team is in flux, with the bullpen issues being front and center. For the first six innings, the Indians look like one of the best teams in baseball. Unfortunately, they’ve allowed 43.7% of their opponents runs after the sixth inning.

That’s almost two runs per game!

No one has escaped the horribleness. Andrew Miller has been on the disabled list twice since the end of April, and when he has pitched, he’s walked 10 hitters in 14-1/3 innings.

Cody Allen struck out 92 batters in 67-1/3 frames in 2017, and for his career has fanned 11.5 hitters per nine innings. This year, that figure has dropped to 9.1, his lowest since his rookie year (2012).

The rest of the bullpen can’t put two consecutive good outings together for the most part. Just when you start feeling good about someone, they get hammered.

Zach McAllister has pitched well in May, and we thought maybe it was time to give him another look see. So did Francona, who brought him into a 7-5 game last night, only to see him give up a run in the 7th to close the gap.

Meanwhile, the front office is retreading the retreads. Oliver Drake is brought in, he is gone. Evan Marshall came up, gave up 3 hits and 3 walks in 2-2/3, was sent down, now he is back.

Neil Ramirez has allowed 7 hits, including two dingers in 2-2/3. Our guess is his next bad appearance will be his last.

And Josh Tomlin? My goodness, how can a pitcher who is allowing a home run every other inning he pitches still in the big leagues?

As for the everyday players, some decisions will have to be made soon, because the injured players will start to return.

What happens when Lonnie Chisenhall comes back? Does he platoon with Melky Cabrera in right?

And who goes when Bradley Zimmer returns? Perhaps it is Zimmer, who has fanned 39 times in 106 plate appearances.

Tyler Naquin deserves a spot on the roster the way he hit before being injured (.333 batting average, 820 OPS).

Can Rajai Davis keep his spot on the roster? A 527 OPS doesn’t really help the ballclub. And what about Brandon Guyer, who hasn’t been as effective against lefties as he was in 2016.

We could see a lot more Edwin Encarnacion at first base, especially vs. lefties, with Brantley moving to DH, so Cabrera can play LF.

Our guess is Zimmer will be the first one back, and Greg Allen will go back to AAA. That will mean Zimmer and Davis will platoon in center.

But when Chisenhall is ready, that will force a tough decision. It will be interesting to see what direction the front office goes in.

Within the next two to three weeks, the Indians roster could look totally different. And hopefully that means better.

Bullpen Dragging Down The Tribe

It has been said that nothing can make a good baseball team look bad than a bad bullpen, and the Cleveland Indians are experiencing that right now.

Since April 24th, a span of a dozen games, Tribe pitchers have allowed 10 runs or more in 1/3rd of those contests. Conversely, they have held opposing teams to four runs or less just three times, and in two of those three, the other team scored four.

Yes, Carlos Carrasco has had two hiccups his last two times out and Josh Tomlin is giving up home runs at an incredible rate, but Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Mike Clevinger have been solid, but the relief pitching has been dragging down the team.

Since Andrew Miller went down with his leg injury, the Indians have already made four moves in the ‘pen, and one of those, lefty Jeff Beliveau, was called up, got a save against Texas, and has already been designated for assignment.

Look at these performances, but you might want to shield your eyes–

April 28th vs. Seattle: Yes, Carrasco didn’t have a good day, allowing five runs in three innings, but it was 5-1 in the 4th before Zack McAllister allowed a five spot in the 4th. Game over.

April 30th vs. Texas: Trevor Bauer allowed a game tying homer in the 7th (he threw 122 pitches). That tied the game at 2-2! Tyler Olson and Cody Allen allowed three over the next two innings, but luckily the Cleveland bats were working in a 7-5 victory.

May 1st vs. Texas: Clevinger entered the 7th trailing 2-0 in what turned out to be an 8-6 loss in 11 innings. Beliveau gave up a two run shot in the 7th, and then Nick Goody allowed two more bombs in the 11th.

May 3rd vs. Toronto (game 1): Carrasco didn’t pitch well, allowing six runs in 5-1/3 innings, but the relief corps gave up seven more in the 11 inning loss. Olson allowed the game winning grand slam after having two outs and nobody on to start the inning.

Certainly, losing Bryan Shaw was a huge loss, as he was frequently the bridge between the starters and the duo of Miller and Allen at the end of games.

Goody is now on the disabled list with an elbow issue, and he has struggled since spring training, perhaps because of the injury.

McAllister has proven once again he can’t be trusted in high leverage situations. And it’s not just long balls anymore, he has allowed 18 hits (four of them HRs) in 12 innings.

Using Olson in a more expanded role isn’t working either. Left handed hitters are 2 for 23 against him, but righties are hitting .381 (8 for 21). Hence, the valuableness of Miller.

And today, the Tribe added Oliver Drake in a cash transaction with the Brewers. Drake is a swing and miss guy (115 strikeouts in 102-1/3 innings), and his numbers are skewed this year by a game against the Reds in which he allowed six runs in an inning.

Early in the year, when it was cold and the starters were going seven innings, it was easy for Terry Francona, just use Miller and Allen and the game is over.

Now it is time for others to step up, and it is up to the front office to find people who can get outs consistently. Because not only is the bullpen hurting the team, it is also putting too great of a burden on the starters, which could be a problem as the season goes on.

Yes, the AL Central Division is weak, but this situation needs to be fixed, and the sooner, the better.

Early Spring Roster Battles For Tribe

Exhibition play is a little over a week old in Goodyear, Arizona and what that means mostly is we are closer to the start of the regular season, which is now just 24 days away.

We have always maintained the perfect record for spring training is around .500, because it doesn’t give the fan bases of a bad team any unrealistic expectations, nor does it worry supporters of good teams, like the Cleveland Indians.

The best news to come out of the desert is it appears Jason Kipnis is healthy and ready to go.

We were never in the trade Kipnis camp, because he is coming off a poor, injury plagued season, so the Tribe front office was never going to get value, it would have been strictly a salary dump.

The negatives have been on the injury front where Danny Salazar likely will not be able to open the season on the big league roster, and OF Brandon Guyer has had some set backs as well, although we aren’t sure his timetable was to open the year on the active list.

Salazar’s injury simply means Terry Francona and new/old pitching coach Carl Willis don’t have to make a decision on whether or not they have to move a starter to the bullpen.

As of right now, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and Josh Tomlin will make up the starting staff.

With Guyer and Michael Brantley likely to be on the disabled list to start the season, it opens up two outfield spots, with holdovers Abraham Almonte, Tyler Naquin, Greg Allen, and Yandy Diaz battling with Rob Refsnyder, Rajai Davis, and Melvin Upton Jr. to make the Opening Day roster.

Quite frankly, we think each spot will go to one in each group.

The first group has two switch-hitters in Almonte and Allen, with Naquin swinging from the left side and Diaz the right. The latter has been playing most infield, so maybe versatility wins out.

The brass knows what Almonte can do and Allen could probably benefit from some time at AAA. In the latter group, Refsnyder offers the multi-position option, while Davis and Upton are trying for one last shot at a big league roster.

To date, neither of the veterans have done much in games, but this is the Indians we are talking about, and we know Tito and his staff love veterans.

We would keep Diaz, putting him in LF to start, and Refsnyder would also get a shot because he can play both infield and outfield.

In the bullpen, the loss of Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith leave two openings, but the recent signings of veteran Matt Belisle, Carlos Torres, and the claiming of Ben Taylor from Boston would make them the leading candidates to win the job.

Torres is durable, pitching in 65 or more games in three of the last four years in the bigs, and Belisle ended last season as the Twins closer, pitching great in the second half, after solid years in Washington and St. Louis.

One reliever to watch is Nick Goody, who has struggled so far in Arizona. He doesn’t have the track record of some of the other arms, so he could find himself the odd man out if he doesn’t start pitching better.

Again, it’s early. But the players we talked about are the ones in battles to make the trip north to Seattle on March 29th.

Which can’t get here fast enough.

Tribe Starters Still Make Them Elite

There is no question this year’s off-season for the Cleveland Indians is not as exciting as last winter.

The biggest reason is a year ago, the Tribe brought in a big ticket free agent in Edwin Encarnacion and another bullpen arm in Boone Logan.

This year, most of the free agent news have been people leaving Cleveland. Relievers Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith went to Colorado and Houston respectively, while Carlos Santana (Philadelphia), Jay Bruce (New York Mets) and Austin Jackson (San Francisco) have also departed.

Even Logan is gone, signing with the Brewers.

Still, as spring training is a mere weeks away from commencing, Terry Francona’s team is the odds on favorite to defend their Central Division title, and they would still be considered one of the best teams in baseball.

The biggest reason for this is the Indians’ starting rotation, which may still be the best in baseball.

The starters ranked 2nd in Major League Baseball in ERA in 2017, ranking behind only the Dodgers, who have the advantage of playing in a league without the DH.

The only AL team within a half run of Cleveland’s 3.52 mark for starters is the Yankees, who had a 3.98 ERA. The World Champion Astros were at 4.03.

Among innings pitched for starting hurlers, two National League teams (Washington and San Francisco) led the majors, while the Tribe and Red Sox tied for the American League top spot.

Texas was next, a full 43 frames behind the leaders.

Indians’ starters also led the big leagues in strikeouts with 1066, 54 more than second place Washington and 65 more than the AL runner up, Boston.

And the Tribe’s rotation also narrowly edged the Yankees and Astros for the lowest batting average against.

That part of the team has been unaffected this winter. In fact, the Indians have six starters contending for the starting roles to start the season in Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, the man who finished fourth in the voting, Carlos Carrasco, and 17 game winner Trevor Bauer fronting the rotation.

They are backed up by Danny Salazar, who has as electric stuff as perhaps any of the three guys also mentioned, Mike Clevinger, who went 12-6 with a 3.11 ERA in 27 appearances (21 starts), and Josh Tomlin, who would be a middle of the rotation guys for many MLB teams.

Southpaw Ryan Merritt, who is 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA in five big league appearances, and Cody Anderson, who went 7-3 with a 3.05 ERA in 15 starts in 2015, before hurting his elbow and missing all of last year with Tommy John surgery.

Something has to give, because Merritt is out of options, and of course, since the Tribe will start the year with five starters, someone who started a year ago will have to begin this season in the bullpen.

We would guess since Anderson is coming off an injury, he will start the year at Columbus.

Julian Merryweather could make some starts at the big league level in 2018, and Cleveland still has Shawn Morimando and Adam Plutko at AAA too.

So they have some depth as well, although to be fair, none of those guys are even close to the six pitchers who made most of the starts in Cleveland in 2017.

That’s the big reason the Indians are still among baseball’s elite. Very few teams can put someone out there each and every night who has the ability to put zeroes on the scoreboard.

Francona always says when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get more. It looks like the front office agrees.

Yankees A Huge Challenge For Tribe

Anyone who is an ardent fan of baseball knows that it is a funny game. It is probably the one sport where the best team not winning the World Series would be the norm.

The Cleveland Indians finished the regular season with the American League’s best record, so they get the winner of the wild card game as their opponent in the Division Series.

Unfortunately, the winner of that game, the New York Yankees, might just be the second best team in the AL.

The Indians led the league in run differential, outscoring their opponents by an incredible 254 runs. The Yankees were second, with a +198 mark, just slightly ahead of Houston’s +196.

It is not the ideal situation to play the second best team in the league in a best-of-five series.

Many people have focused on Terry Francona’s decision to start Trevor Bauer in game one, but we have always thought the even numbered games are most important in a series until the deciding game, and that may be Tito’s thought process in using ace Corey Kluber in the second game.

If Bauer wins the series opener, how great will it be to have Kluber going with a chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

And if the Indians lose game one, you have perhaps the AL’s best pitcher to tie up the series at a game apiece.

Another reason is Francona seems hesitant to use Josh Tomlin as a starter. If Kluber pitches game one, Tomlin would seem to be the most likely candidate to pitch a potential fourth game.

If Bauer goes in the first game, Kluber still would be the game five starter, and Bauer can go in game four, backed up by the bullpen, which has starters Danny Salazar, Mike Clevinger, and Tomlin as members.

There is no question the Yankees are a different team outside of the bandbox that is new Yankee Stadium, but amazingly, they pitch better at home too.

New York has a 817 OPS as a team at home, but that figure drops to 755 on the road. As a comparison, the Indians have a 782 OPS at Progressive Field, and a 793 OPS away from home, another reason the Cleveland tied Houston for the best road record in the AL at 53-28.

The Yankees also have a very good bullpen, perhaps second only to the Indians.

Just as Francona can shorten a game by going to Joe Smith, Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen after five innings, Yankee skipper Joe Girardi can do the same with David Robertson, Chad Green, Tommy Kahnle, and Aroldis Chapman.

It will be very important for the Tribe to get an early lead in each game.

These games will probably be long. The two teams involved are one and two in the American League in walks, but the big difference is in strikeouts.

The Indians have a strikeout staff leading the AL in whiffs, and the Yankees rank 6th in the league in fanning. New York’s pitching staff ranks 4th in strikeouts, but Indians’ hitters are second to last in the junior circuit in whiffing.

The one decided edge the Tribe has is in the starting pitching. While Luis Severino is one of the sports’ best young starters, Francona has three of perhaps the top ten starters in the AL at his disposal.

It is very likely that this Yankee team is better than the Red Sox or Blue Jays teams the Indians met last year in the post-season.

Make no mistake, this series will be a challenge.

The Tribe’s Remarkable Streak Carries Remarkable Numbers.

By now, we think everyone knows that the Cleveland Indians are on a 19 game winning streak, and tonight they will attempt to tie the American League record of 20 straight wins, set by the Oakland A’s in 2002.

Those are the A’s portrayed in the movie “Moneyball”.

There are a lot of remarkable numbers and statistics that go along with the streak, but in our opinion, the one that stands out is that the Tribe has allowed just 32 runs during the 19 victories, and six of those came in the first win, against Boston.

That means over the next 18 contests, opponents have scored just 26 runs, an average of only 1.4 per game.

No matter what kind of team you have, you will win a lot of games if you only have to get two runs to win.

However, Terry Francona’s crew has scored more than two runs per game, they have scored 132 runs during the streak, averaging 6.9 runs per game.

That also computes to a run differential of 100 runs in these games. With the Indians leading the AL in that category, the second place team is the Yankees, and they have scored 152 more runs than their opponents…for the entire season.

At the All Star break, it seemed impossible that the Tribe could get the best record in the AL and thus have home field advantage in the league playoffs, but right now, they have that distinction right now, although there is still three weeks on the schedule.

Even with that record, according to their run differential on the season, Cleveland is below where they should be record wise, their real mark being 88-56, while their Pythagorean win/loss is 94-50.

More numbers that boggle your mind. The Indians’ pitching staff have six shutouts in the 19 games. They have only one three one-run games, while only two others have been decided by two runs.

This means there have only been five close games in the bunch.

By contrast, Francona’s squad has won four games by 10 or more runs, and in total have emerged victorious by five or more runs in eight contests.

Eleven of the wins came on the road, meaning eight have come at home. They had an overall scoreless streak of 30 innings, starting in game one vs. Boston, and ended by Corey Kluber, of all people.

They carried a 37 inning scoreless skein at Progressive Field, which just ended last Saturday afternoon against the Orioles.

Mike Clevinger has not allowed a run during the streak, making three starts, and pitching six scoreless innings in each of them.

Trevor Bauer has four wins, Kluber and Clevinger have won three, while Carlos Carrasco, Josh Tomlin, and Ryan Merritt have two victories.

Cleveland’s magic number was 33 before they stopped losing, and it is now six. There is a real possibility the Indians could have a champagne celebration before they leave town on Sunday night.

Perhaps the craziest thing is that Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, and Andrew Miller haven’t made an appearance on the field during this span. That speaks to the depth the front office has accumulated this season.

Because of the streak, Jay Bruce has been on the roster for 33 games, and the Indians are 28-5.

It’s a remarkable run for this baseball team, and it keeps on going. After a season with mixed results for four months, the Tribe is the talk of baseball right now.