Cleveland Indians: Ranking potential playoff opponents by desirability

The fear of the Chicago White Sox young nucleus forming into baseball’s next super team appears to be coming true for the Indians.

Entering play Saturday, Chicago holds a 1.5 game lead over Minnesota and 2.5 game lead over the Indians for first place in the AL Central as their offense has raked and starting pitching continues to impress.

The White Sox rank fifth in baseball in runs scored behind a mix of young stars such as Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada and solid veterans such as Jose Abreu, Yasmani Grandal and Edwin Encarnacion.

As for the starting rotation, Lucas Giolito continues to develop into an ace as he is 4-2 with a 3.43 ERA and tossed a no-hitter this season. Behind him, Chicago has a former Cy-Young Award winner and World Series champion in Dallas Keuchel and promising right-hander Dylan Cease who has posted a 3.93 ERA so far this season.

The one weak spot for the White Sox is their bullpen that ranks 17th in the majors in ERA, but that doesn’t mean this would be a desirable matchup for the Indians.

Giolito and Keuchel both eat-innings and could shutdown the Indians lackluster offense for seven to eight innings, which could put the Tribe into an 0-2 hole quickly.

Even if Shane Bieber and whoever the Indians select as their second starter are able to battle them pitch for pitch, Cleveland’s bullpen has struggled of late, meaning a battle of the bullpens may not be as big of an advantage in a series with Chicago as once thought.

The Indians have far more postseason experience than the White Sox as a whole, but they still would not be an ideal opponent in a three-game series due to their offense that can attack anyone and top of the rotation combo that’s as good as anyone in the AL.