Cleveland Indians: Previewing the 2018 opening series in Seattle

With Opening Day upon us at last, we take a look at how the Cleveland Indians and the Seattle Mariners stack up for the first series of the season.

At long last Opening Day is upon us. After a disappointing end to what was a spectacular 2017 season, the Cleveland Indians are set to make another deep run.

As we know, Cleveland made up for the loss of Carlos Santana with the addition of Yonder Alonso. To start 2018, Alonso will get a chance to stand out against the team he just left.

Opening Day has a full slate of games starting at noon. If you plan to spend the day like I will be, by watching baseball all day with some cold brews, take care to pace yourself if you want to watch the Tribe. The Indians open the season with a six-game west coast trip starting in Seattle at 10:10 PM ET. The good news is we’re able to get most of those late west coast starts out of the way early.

Projected lineups

Indians:

1. SS Francisco Lindor, 2. 2B Jason Kipnis, 3. 3B Jose Ramirez, 4. DH Edwin Encarnacion, 5. 1B Yonder Alonso, 6. OF Lonnie Chisenhall, 7. OF Tyler Naquin, 8. C Roberto Perez, 9. OF Bradley Zimmer

Mariners:

1. OF Dee Gordon, 2. SS Jean Segura, 3. 2B Robinson Cano, 4. DH Nelson Cruz, 5. 3B Kyle Seager, 6. OF Mitch Haniger, 7. C Mike Zunino, 8. 1B Dan Vogelbach, 9. OF Ichiro Suzuki

It’s worth noting that the Mariners are using the newly acquired Dee Gordon in the outfield instead of the infield where he spent all of his career. That should definitely be fun to watch. The Indians will also get to see Ichiro Suzuki make his long-awaited return to Seattle.

As for the Indians, it was announced over the weekend that Michael Brantley will start the season on the DL. That means that Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis will see time in the outfield these first few weeks. RotoChamp.com has Naquin as the projected starter but it may depend on who is pitching for the opposition.