Cleveland Indians: Projecting the three-man Wild Card round rotation

These three arms will most likely be tasked with sending the Cleveland Indians to the ALDS.

Despite losing eight straight games in September, the Cleveland Indians are zeroing in on clinching their fourth postseason berth in the past five years.

After taking three of four from the Tigers over the weekend, the Indians are now 29-24 on the season and their magic number to lockdown a trip to the postseason is just two.

It also seems likely the Indians will be locked into the seventh seed in the eight-team postseason in 2020 as they trail the White Sox by five games with just six to play in the AL Central standings are 2.5 games behind the Twins for second place.

Thus, unless they make a surprising run at second or see the 26-26 Toronto Blue Jays leap them for the seventh seed, they likely to stay in their current spot in the standings.

Regardless of seeding, the Indians, like every team to reach the postseason, will be gearing up for a three-game wild card round, which for Cleveland will likely be on the road either in Chicago, Tampa or Oakland.

That will leave either Terry Francona and Sandy Alomar with a decision on how they want to go about lining up their three-man rotation.

Cleveland has not been shy about mixing up the game one starter in a best of five series as in 2017, the Tribe went with Trevor Bauer over Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber in Game One of the ALDS in order to hopefully take a commanding 2-0 lead. However, in a best of three, the rotation is likely to be far more predictable.

Here are the likely three arms that the Indians will tab with starting duties in next week’s Wild Card Round.

There’s little doubt that the Indians will hand the ball off to Shane Bieber in game one of their Wild Card series.

Bieber is the front-runner to take home the AL Cy Young Award and may even receive MVP consideration as he leads baseball in ERA (1.74), strikeouts (112) and wins (8).

He is also perfectly lined up to get the ball in game one of the Wild Card Round, which is slated to begin on September 29, as his next start is scheduled for Tuesday against the White Sox, which would give him seven days of rest before taking the ball in game one.

Despite an anemic offense, Bieber has proved he can lead the Indians to a win no matter how much run support he is given and by throwing him Game 1, Cleveland will have a chance to jump ahead of any team 1-0 and push them against the wall in a do-or-die Game 2 which with Cleveland’s rotation may be impossible to beat.

The one knock on Bieber entering October is that he has never pitched in a postseason game, but there’s no reason to believe the right-hander can’t handle the pressure, especially given the Indians felt comfortable trading away Mike Clevinger in large part due to the trust they have in Bieber and the rest of their starting staff.

2020 has been a roller-coaster season for young right-hander Zach Plesac, but with the way he’s pitched, he is likely in-line to get the ball in Game 2 of a best-of-three Wild Card series.

Plesac started the season in the Indians’ rotation, making three strong starts, but after earning a victory over the Chicago White Sox on August 8, he made a poor decision as he broke COVID-19 protocols to attend a social gathering with friends.

As punishment, he was optioned to the teams’ alternate site in Lake County and was not recalled until August 31 after Clevinger, who was also optioned for attending the same gathering, was dealt to San Diego at the trade deadline.

Since rejoining the Indians, Plesac has made four starts and is 3-1, has lowered his season ERA to an outstanding 1.85 and even threw the fourth immaculate inning in Cleveland’s history.

While some may still be angry with the right-hander, the numbers prove he is the Indians’ second most effective pitcher behind Bieber and is deserving of a Game 2 start that could either send Cleveland to the ALDS in California or set-up a winner take all Game 3.