Cleveland Indians: Previewing the first home series in 2018

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Indians home opener

The Indians have found themselves playing in home openers for two other teams out west so far this season. They will look to use that as motivation to make their own home crowd happy in what is sure to be a cold home opener on the banks of Lake Erie.

The Indians won their home opener last year but dropped the other games in the series and continued to have a poor record at home for the early parts of 2017. They will look to put that behind them this year.

Opening up division play

This will also be the first series of division play for the Tribe. Division play was something the Indians dominated in for the last two years. The AL Central doesn’t look to fare much better this year as three of the teams are in the middle of a rebuild including Kansas City.

Despite the rebuild, Kansas City can still give Cleveland trouble. That is especially true if the offense doesn’t wake up in this series.

Best/Worst Case scenario

Best Case scenario: 3-0 series win

You could say that the Indians don’t look much better now than they did before the series against LA, but Kansas City isn’t as tough as a matchup in all honesty. Cleveland will still be bringing the bulk of its rotation into this series while facing three beatable pitchers. If the Indians offense can come around (it has to at some point) it can be an easy outing for the Tribe.

Worst Case scenario: 1-2 series loss

As previously mentioned the Indians are bringing in the best parts of the rotation not named Corey Kluber. It is hard to picture the combination of Carrasco, Bauer and Clevinger all losing. While it can happen it is not likely.

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One would argue that a 1-1 tie or 0-2 loss with one game being postponed would be worse, but that gives the team a chance to win a game later in the year when the team is playing better. The series kicks off at four o’clock on Friday so long as it is not delayed or postponed. Regardless it is sure to be a fun yet chilly day in downtown Cleveland.