Cleveland Indians: Previewing the home series vs. the Seattle Mariners

The Cleveland Indians are set to wrap up the season series against the Seattle Mariners after opening the season against them.

It’s almost May! Hard to believe it’s already almost been a month since the Cleveland Indians season started. It seems like it was just yesterday that an Indians pitcher had a great game but had no run support to show for it.

Probably because that’s happened quite a few times already this year. But it all started on a chilly Seattle evening in late March. Corey Kluber pitched a complete game on Opening Day. In the first inning he allowed two-run homer and the Tribe offense never recovered.

These two teams aren’t too far apart from where they were on that day. Except the Indians are in first place in the AL Central. The Mariners sit in third place of the AL West behind the buzzsaw Astros and Angels. The Indians come into this series 7-4 in their last 11 games while the Mariners are 5-6 in that span.

Here’s how these lineups stack up the second time around.

Projected Lineups

Seattle Mariners (13-10) vs Cleveland Indians (13-9)

Seattle Mariners: CF Dee Gordon, SS Jean Segura, 2B Robinson Cano, DH Nelson Cruz, 3B Kyle Seager, RF Mitch Haniger, C Mike Zunino, LF Ichiro Suzuki, 1B Daniel Vogelbach

Cleveland Indians: SS Francisco Lindor, 2B Jason Kipnis, 3B Jose Ramirez, LF Michael Brantley, DH Edwin Encarnacion, 1B Yonder Alonso, RF Tyler Naquin, CF Bradley Zimmer

Not too much as changed, it is still hilarious to watch the Mariners use career infielder Dee Gordon in the outfield. There’s a good chance that Guillermo Heredia or Ben Gamel make a few starts in left field in the place of Suzuki. Gamel was activated from the DL on April 18 and is currently batting .143 in 22 ABs.

The Indians outfield continues to rotate and be a question mark. Except for Michael Brantley. Brantley is currently batting .314 and as of Tuesday sits at first in the MLB in contact percentage.

Jose Ramirez is starting to look like Jose Ramirez again, and that is scary for the rest of the AL. In his last seven games he is batting .455 with five extra base-hits. He also currently leads the team in home runs with seven.