Cleveland Indians Travel to Texas For Clash of First Place Teams

Aug 23, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) throws out Oakland Athletics center fielder Jake Smolinski (not pictured) for the third out of the sixth inning at the Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers lead their respective divisions. With a four-game series beginning on Thursday, there’s a lot on the line.

The Cleveland Indians head into Texas looking to put their most recent series behind them and start a new winning streak. This series is a battle of American League heavyweights, as the Rangers come in with the American League’s best record (74-53), while the Indians are right behind them (72-53).

You would not have believed it based on Cleveland’s performance last series, as the Indians had the lowly Oakland Athletics take two out of three games from them, with the A’s outscoring the Indians 14-3. This caused the Indians lead in the AL Central to drop to 5.5 games over the Detroit Tigers.

Texas split their two game series against the Cincinnati Reds, and a 12-8 month of August has put them 6.5 games up over the surging Seattle Mariners.

The two clubs met once before this season, at Progressive Field at the end of May. That series ended up going the Rangers way, as they took two out of three from the Indians.

This series is crucial, as the outcome could very well go a long way to deciding who has home-field advantage throughout the American League playoffs. An October atmosphere can be expected all weekend long at Globe Life Park.

Next: Inside the Numbers

The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers lead their respective divisions. With a four-game series beginning on Thursday, there’s a lot on the line.

Schedule