Cleveland Indians: Previewing the four-game series in Chicago

The Cleveland Indians continue their trip through the AL Central as they head to Chicago to take on the White Sox for a four-game series.

It’s certainly fun to play in the AL Central this year. After taking two of three from the Tigers, the Cleveland Indians are set to take on the White Sox; the team the Indians swept two weeks ago.

The Indians have to be feeling pretty good about their chances, as the White Sox are among the basement dwellers of the MLB. The White Sox went 8-19 in the month of May, including that three-game sweep at Progressive Field.

Let’s take this moment to appreciate how bad this division is. The Indians sit atop of the AL Central, five games head of the team that they just beat in Detroit. The Indians have had the luxury of letting the teams below them fall apart even as they’ve had struggles of their own.

Another series win over the White Sox will help build a more comfortable lead at the top of a really bad AL Central. Heres how these teams stack up.

Projected Lineups

Cleveland Indians (34-29) vs Chicago White Sox (22-41)

Cleveland Indians: SS Francisco Lindor, LF Michael Brantley, 3B Jose Ramirez, DH Edwin Encarnacion, 1B Yonder Alonso, RF Lonnie Chisenhall, 2B Jason Kipnis, C Yan Gomes, CF Greg Allen

Chicago White Sox: 2B Yoan Moncada, 3B Yolmer Sanchez, 1B Jose Abreu, DH Matt Davidson, C Omar Narvaez, RF Daniel Palka, SS Tim Anderson, RF Charlie Tilson, CF Adam Engel

There’s a chance that Edwin Encarnacion may miss a game or two in this series as he is still nursing a minor neck injury. Should that happen we may see the likes of Erik Gonzalez make his way into the lineup. Oddly enough, Encarnacion and Michael Brantley are both 5-11 against the White Sox this year.

The White Sox don’t have many hot hitters but they have some guys who can hit well. Yolmer Sanchez is one of those guys. Sanchez is batting .273 but his RBI numbers are down with only 27. In fact, only Jose Abreu has over 30 RBIs for the White Sox.