Cleveland Indians: Carlos Carrasco begins his quest to be the ace tonight

Carlos Carrasco will look to have a dominant outing tonight as the Cleveland Indians look to improve to 2-0 to begin the 2017 season.

Has everyone recovered from last night? If not, there are only 161 more of those to go.

The Cleveland Indians are back at it tonight against the Texas Rangers, just one night after the offense bailed out Corey Kluber and notched a season-opening victory.

Kluber became dominant after the third inning, but the five runs he gave up before then put the Tribe in an early deficit. Luckily, the rest of the team was there to pick up their teammate.

Carlos Carrasco will look to have a better outing as he makes his return to the mound tonight. His presence in the postseason could have made the ultimate difference a year ago, so fans are excited to see if he can stay healthy and compete with Kluber for that role as the team’s ace.

Related: The bullpen dominance continues in 2017

It does not matter who is the team’s number one starter as the season goes on, but Carrasco is certainly capable of taking that title if he continues where he left off last year. And this is not a reaction to Kluber’s start last night, but rather a fact that Carrasco has what it takes to be the team’s go-to guy. This highlights the rotation’s depth at the start of the season.

Carrasco should receive a lot of help tonight, and throughout the year, from one of the best looking lineups in all of baseball.

Austin Jackson and Brandon Guyer will make their season debuts tonight, while Yandy Diaz has slid up to the number seven spot in the order after a solid MLB debut Monday night.

That slides Yan Gomes down to the number eight spot, and in search of some offensive success after a horrible season at the plate a year ago. He finished 0-for-4 on Monday, but one game is not enough to say he’s done.

The Indians gave us a treat on Opening Day, and fans are hoping the team can do it again tonight. The bullpen worked efficiently last night, meaning all players should be ready to go. That includes Andrew Miller, so if Carrasco can go six or seven solid innings and the offense shows up again, the game may be all but over for the Rangers.

Next: 3 main storylines to start the season

But this is a lot of speculation, so let’s sit back and enjoy the second game of what should be a special season.

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