Cleveland Indians: Previewing a late night series in Seattle

Storylines

Play to your strengths

One thing is for sure, the offense has not been a strength for the Cleveland Indians so far this year. It usually isn’t when the season starts off for this squad. But pitching has always been a strength in the Francona years. We all worried about the bullpen this offseason. They’ve been pretty damn impressive, to say the least. In fact, they’ve been more consistent than the rotation that we all believed in.

That’s not to say the rotation is a weakness. These starters are all capable of Cy Young-esqe seasons. There is plenty of time to right the ship and that’s what the Indians have to do. Score whatever runs you can and let your starters dominate the opposition.

Hats for Bats

This is one of the warmer environments that the Indians have played in this year. They’ve played throughout the chilly AL Central ballparks and now they finally head out west. 50 degrees may not be the warmest, but the humidity will help the ball carry. This is a chance for the Indians bats to come alive. Seattle isn’t exactly a hitters park, but if the Mariners can keep hitting dingers, the Indians can try.

Worse/Best Case scenario

Worse case: 0-3 series loss: The Indians were swept a total of two times last year. One time in the regular season against the Yankees, and in the playoffs against Houston. They’ve now been swept once this season and it’s still April. I don’t see back-to-back sweeps coming, but there is a chance for it given how hot the Mariners are right now.

Best case: 3-0 series win: You may say “duh, of course, these are the best and worse scenarios” and you would be right. Typically I try to keep these outcomes realistic. There is a realistic chance that this Mariners team cools off against an Indians rotation that dominates when they’re on top of their game. Teams know to attack the Tribe rotation early, so the starters need to counter that and work their way around the strike zone to rack up the strikeouts.

The series starts tonight at 10:10 PM and continues through Wednesday before the team returns home this weekend. They have an off day on Thursday which happens to be my birthday. So thankfully that will be stress-free.