Cleveland Indians: Will first west coast road trip take toll on Tribe?

Will first west coast road trip take toll on surging Cleveland Indians?

The Cleveland Indians haven’t been to the west coast for a series since a three-game set against the Los Angeles Angels in September of 2019. Now, they head to the pacific time zone for the next six games for three against Seattle followed by another three against the Angels.

It’s been a full two years since the Tribe last faced the Seattle Marines with the last series spanning from May 3 until the 5 during the 2019 campaign. That series was in Cleveland with the last meeting in Seattle being back in April of 2019 on the 15 through 17.

Fast forward to the 2021 season and the two teams are ready to square off once more. The Cleveland Indians will enter as winners in eight of their last nine contests, as well as 12 of their last 15, to place them in second for the AL Central and just a game back of the Chicago White Sox. As for the Mariners, they’ve had an up-and-down season that has put them at third in the AL West with a record right around .500.

Over the recent bout of success for the Tribe, the offense has surprisingly been the catalyst, totaling 69 runs as opposed to their opponent’s 51 over the same stretch. However, recently the strength has shifted back to the pitching as Cleveland won both games against the Cubs while scoring just three runs or less in both contests, something the team had done just once this season entering the series.

The difficult part with the west coast trip for the Tribe will be the quick turnaround on top of a time difference. An early start time on Wednesday would have helped, but extra innings in that game didn’t. While it was still only one extra inning, that’s enough to make a dent in the turnaround schedule of getting to Seattle, acclimated and on the field in just about 30 hours, give or take, from the last out against the Cubs to the first pitch against the Mariners.

While Seattle has yet to name a starting pitcher for each game, one of the matchups in the series is already known and also intriguing. For the first time in his career, Justus Sheffield will face the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe’s first round selection in the 2014 MLB Draft, Sheffield was part of the package that Cleveland sent to the New York Yankees for Andrew Miller in 2016. Sheffield was then dealt again in 2018 when the Yankees moved him to Seattle as part of the deal that netted them James Paxton.

Now, Sheffield will look to face some of his former teammates from the minors, scheduled to pitch the series finale on Saturday against Triston McKenzie, who was a first round pick by Cleveland the year after they took Sheffield. Sheffield will enter the contest with a 2-3 record this season, riding a 4.91 ERA through six starts. As for his opposition, McKenzie has a 1-1 record with a 4.94 ERA through six appearances, making for what could be a very similar pitching matchup.

For the other two games, the Tribe are set to throw Zach Plesac on Thursday followed by Aaron Civale on Friday before handing the ball over to McKenzie on Saturday to close out the series. Due to such a young trio of starters and the odd schedule that we saw in 2020, none of the three starters for the Cleveland Indians have ever faced the Seattle Mariners.

Plesac and Civale entered the majors later in the 2019 season, after the Tribe had already closed out the season series against the Mariners. Then, the 2020 season didn’t play any opponents from the west, meaning this could become a trend throughout the season against more opponents than just the Mariners.

Hopefully, the quick turnaround and time change won’t change the production we’ve been seeing from the team of late. The Cleveland Indians are still only a game back of the division lead in the AL Central. With the White Sox facing some injury concerns, a strong road trip could make things very interesting for the Tribe in the early going of the season.

However, with this being the first trip to the west coast in over a year and a half and the first to Seattle in over two years, there are plenty of extra barriers to overcome.