Cleveland Indians Series Preview: Tribe Set To Open 2021 In Detroit

First Pitch: 1:10 ET

Projected Starters:

Cleveland: Shane Bieber (2020: 8-1; 1.63 ERA; 77.1 IP, 122 Ks)

Detroit: Matt Boyd (2020: 3-7; 6.71 ERA; 60.1IP, 60 Ks)

The reigning AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber gets the ball on Opening Day for the Cleveland Indians. Bieber had a solid spring and will look to prove his dominance over the course of a full season, and not just a shortened season in which he was on fire for the duration of 2020.

It should be no surprise that there aren’t many Tigers with exceptional statistics when facing Bieber. Some of their biggest names in Jeimer Candalario , Willi Castro, and Miguel Cabrera have gone a career 5-for-33 (.151 avg) when facing the Indians ace.

For the Tigers, their opening day starter will be lefty Matt Boyd who is coming off of a putrid 2020. Beyond the 6+ ERA in 2020, he also allowed an MLB-high 15 home runs to opposing batters. Quite frankly, the entire Tigers pitching staff was awful in 2020, they had a 5+ ERA which is near the bottom of MLB.

The most familiar face for Boyd when he faces the Cleveland Indians will be catcher Roberto Perez who in 14 plate appearances against Boyd is hitting .400 with a home run and a .971 OPS. The other player to watch for the Indians against Boyd is a potential leadoff hitter in Jordan Luplow. Luplow has a career .308 average, but a 1.077 OPS facing Boyd in 13 plate appearances.

These stats while historical are important. The 2021 Indians will be basing the strength of their ability to contend on the production from their offense. Luplow himself figures to be in for another platoon year, and with a rotation of center fielders and even lead-off hitters expected, any good start will go a long way to help stabilize what is projecting to be a fluctuating Indians defense and lineup.

Each year brings new optimism, and 2020 was an odd MLB season for many reasons so its worth waiting and seeing if Boyd can rebound into his old form. Either way, the Indians will be facing a familiar face whom they should have a lot of confidence facing. With the Tigers having to overcome a Cy Young winner, this opening game could turn out to be a strong showcase for the Indians offensively. The Indians should win if they can knock around Boyd early and often.

For the Tigers to win, they’ll need to keep it within striking distance or force Bieber out early and test out the Indians’ new bullpen. The talent is there for the Indians, but the roles aren’t clearly defined or proven yet.

First Pitch: April 3rd at 1:10pm EDT

Projected Starters: CLE Zach Plesac (2020 stats: 4-2; 2.20 ERA; 0.80 WHIP; 57 Ks)

DET Julio Teheran (2020 stats: 0-4; 10.05 ERA; 1.76 WHIP; 20 Ks)

Getting the ball for game two will be Zach Plesac who had a phenomenal sophomore season on the mound. He’ll look to continue his upward trajectory in 2021 and facing an opponent he’s dominated should help him out.

In Plesac’s final start during the 2020 season he faced the Tigers and went 7+ scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts. The Tigers offense hasn’t churned as much as the Indians, so there will be a lot of familiar opponents in game two for Plesac to get off to a strong start.

For the Tigers they are looking at providing a career reset for former Braves ace Julio Teheran. Teheran had the wheels fall off last season in 2020 while with the Angels, but when things are right, he has top-end of rotation movement and stuff with his pitches.

This spring his numbers have been mixed, having a 5+ ERA during his starts, but 18:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio, so his accuracy is on point to potentially have a strong start to the season. He is battling some minor injuries and indications are he’ll only be available for five or six innings when he starts on Saturday.

While it’s safe to anticipate a strong performance in game one for the Cleveland Indians offense, game two will feature an opposing pitcher most of the Indians haven’t seen much of. The exception is Franmil Reyes who is a career .333 average against Teheran with two home runs and a 1.444 OPS when facing him.

The other story to follow with this matchup is after facing the lefty in game one, how will the lineup and defensive platoons shift to when a righty takes the mound? We know there are possible platoons for the Indians in center, first, maybe shortstop and possibly one of the corner outfield spots, too.

The Indians rightly anticipate having a strong rotation to provide strength this year, but defensively is where things may get interesting if there are errors or poor routes on fly balls. We’ll have to wait and see, but Comerica Park itself will be a challenge if there are inexperienced outfielders trying to cover the large gaps.

First Pitch: April 4th at 1:10pm EDT

Projected Starters: CLE Aaron Civale (2020 stats: 4-6; 4.74 ERA; 69 Ks)

DET Tarik Skubal (2020 stats: 1-4; 5.63 ERA; 37 Ks)

The most balanced starting pitching matchup may take place on Sunday when Aaron Civale squares off against Tarik Skubal. Skubal is entering his second season having made his highly touted debut in 2020. The Tigers season is hinging on the likes of Skubal to gain control and tapping into some of his elite stuff to give the Tigers hope at being competitive in 2021.

Skubal has lightning stuff, his fastball can get close to 100 mph. The issue with Skubal, at least in his brief rookie starts last year, is that he allowed 9 home runs in just 32+ innings pitched. The Indians offense doesn’t project to be a major power lineup, but there are pockets of hitters that can certainly do damage if Skubal leaves that heater in the right spots.

For the Tigers, they will need to attack Aaron Civale who started off 2020 on a very high note, but then cooled off as the season went on. Civale will look to be more like his first five starts of 2020 where he had a 2.97 ERA, than the pitcher that labored down the stretch.

This off-season Civale has added a new pitch (Split Change) to assist his effectiveness on the second and third times around lineups. The Tigers have had success offensively against Civale, granted in limited appearances, specifically Candalerio who has gone 2-for-3 (.667 average) facing Civale.

Civale will not strikeout a lot of hitters and allow his defense to get the outs. This is another test for the Indians new defense to see how strong it is at supporting a pitcher who will rely upon them for outs.

On paper this series is tilting heavily for the Indians to win the series and get off to a strong start in the new season. However, games aren’t played on paper and the bullpens will be used early to ease each starter’s innings early on, so the new-look bullpens for both teams could be the ultimate deciding factor in who comes away with a series win.

It’s the start of a new season, so lets Play Ball!