Cleveland Indians: Tribe head to Toronto for a showdown with the Blue Jays

Storylines

How will the Jason Kipnis situation unfold?

Josh Donaldson isn’t eligible to play until Tuesday in Tampa Bay, but that doesn’t mean the team should overlook the current situation in the infield. Jason Kipnis has been playing some stellar baseball of late. While he isn’t known for consistency, it shouldn’t be overlooked. When Donaldson joins the lineup, Ramirez will still move to 2B and Kipnis will become somewhat of a platoon player. He’ll see a majority of his play in the outfield, which he has started practicing playing. Kipnis has admitted to his own faults. But if his offensive production keeps up the question is, will the Indians sacrifice the defense of Greg Allen for offensive production of Kipnis?

Worse/Best case scenario

Worse case: 1-3 series loss

I feel like this is a bit of a stretch, but the Indians offense has been an enigma so far this month. They were awful against the Rays, and somewhat shaky against the Royals. But the Blue Jays aren’t exactly has hot as those aforementioned teams have been. Still, dropping a few games north of the border in what could be an emotional series is not out of the question. Let’s just hope the Indians find some consistency.

Best case: 3-1 series win

It would be nice to see the Indians get a four-game sweep, but this team hasn’t shown that they’re consistent enough for that. They haven’t really hit that long stride all year. While this would be a nice time to hit said stride, I’d rather they save it for October. But with Carrasco and Clevinger on the mound they can get two wins. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Plutko or Bieber have a bounce back game against the struggling Blue Jays.

The series kicks-off tonight at 7:07 PM EST because Canada is weird and they must not like 7:10 starts. It continues through Sunday before the Indians head down to the Sunshine State for a rematch with the Rays.