Cleveland Indians: Previewing the series against the Angels

It’s back to Progressive Field for the Tribe as the Cleveland Indians start a new home-stand against the Los Angeles Angels, who they haven’t faced since April.

The old adage in baseball is that it’s not who you play, it’s when you play them. When the Cleveland Indians played the Angels for their second series of the year, the Angels were one of the most exciting teams in baseball. The Angels won that series 2-1 with Shohei Ohtani acting as baseball’s funnest player.

Now; Nearly four months later, the Indians are slowly becoming one of the hottest teams in baseball while the Angels have sold at the deadline and sit in fourth place in the AL West. The Indians are catching the Angels after they’ve dropped four straight and got swept by the Rays.

As for the Tribe. They’re continuing the build their lead in the central after taking two of three from the Twins. Here is how they stack up for their final meeting of the regular season.

Los Angeles Angels (54-56) vs. Cleveland Indians (59-48)

Los Angeles Angels:  2B David Fletcher, RF Kole Calhoun, CF Mike Trout, LF Justin Upton, DH Albert Pojuls, SS Andrelton Simmons, 1B Luis Valbuena, 3B Zack Cozart, C Jose Briceno

Cleveland Indians: SS Francisco Lindor, LF Michael Brantley, 3B Jose Ramirez, DH Edwin Encarnacion,  1B Yonder Alonso, RF Melky Cabrera, 2B Jason Kipnis, C Yan Gomes, CF Rajai Davis

The Angels may use Shohei Ohtani in the DH slot at some point this weekend since he won’t be pitching. They have gotten rid of Martin Maldonado and Ian Kinsler and while they weren’t the most productive hitters, they were everyday starters.

Jose Ramirez was the hottest hitter in baseball in July. He didn’t show any signs of slowing down in his first game in August with two hits against Minnesota. The only other Indians batter hitting over .300 in the last seven games is none other than Melky Cabrera. It seems like Melky has really found his grove here in this second stint with the Tribe.