Cleveland Indians Travel To The Bronx For A Weekend Series Against The New York Yankees

The Cleveland Indians will begin their five-game road trip in New York for a three-game weekend series with the New York Yankees. The Indians could use some time away from home, as they went 5-4 during their most recent homestand, but three of those losses were games in which they were dominated by the lowly Minnesota Twins. The Indians are now 60-53 and hold a three-game lead in the AL Central over the red-hot Detroit Tigers. The Yankees will enter their series against the Indians at 54-54, and with a record of 10-10 since the all-star break. The Yankees are currently 7 1/2 games back of the AL East lead and are five games back in the wild card with four teams to leapfrog. The Yankees most recently played the Mets in the subway series, a series in which they split with the Mets, with the Pinstripes dropping the series finale by a final score of 4-1.

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The Yankees have had quite a season so far. The Yankees have been average this year, as shown by their .500 record. This lead them to sell at the trade deadline, something they had not done since 1989 when they traded Rickey Henderson to the A’s. This year the Yankees sold their pitching, trading away Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller. The Yankees traded Chapman to the Chicago Cubs for a four-player package, which was highlighted by young shortstop Gleyber Torres. The Yankees were able to trade Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians for four minor leaguers, highlighted by star outfielder Clint Frazier. Miller (6-1, 1.39 ERA, 9 SV with the Yankees) and Chapman (3-0, 2.01 ERA, 20 SV with the Yankees) are two of the elite relievers in baseball, and losing them obviously hurts the Yankees pitching staff, but benefits the team in the long run.

The Yankees pitching staff overall has been mediocre this year. They have a staff ERA of 4.23, which is good for 15th in baseball. Despite this, the Bombers have a 3.31 bullpen ERA, good for fifth in baseball. A big reason for their low bullpen ERA was because of Miller and Chapman, but also because of current Yankee Dellin Betances (2-4, 2.45 ERA.) Betances, Miller, and Chapman were the most dominant back end bullpen trio in the bigs, and with Miller and Chapman gone Betances is now the Yankees full-time closer. Tyler Clippard (2-3, 4.31 ERA with ARI and NYY) was the Yankees biggest addition at the trade deadline, and could get a lot of work against the Indians. The Yankees also got reliever Adam Warren (4-2, 5.18 ERA) in the Chapman deal, and Warren has pitched well in his return to the Yankees (1-0, O ER in 5 IP.)

The Yankees rotation has not been setting the world on fire this year and has had a lot of moving pieces, with players moving in and out of the starting rotation and the bullpen. The Yankees will start the series off with Micheal Pineda (5-10, 5.13 ERA.) Pineda has been incredibly inconsistent this year, which can be shown by his last two starts. On July 25th Pineda threw seven innings of one-run ball against the Houston Astros (56-52 overall record,) but then followed that start up by getting shelled to the tune of five runs in six innings against the Tampa Bay Rays (44-63 overall record.) This will be Pineda’s first career start against the Indians.

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The Yankees will send out former Cleveland Indian CC Sabathia (6-8, 4.15 ERA) for game two. Sabathia had a rough going in his last start, giving up five runs in 5 2/3 innings on August 1st against the Mets, a game the Yankees would eventually win in extra innings. Sabathia played for the Indians from 2001-2008 and is currently fifth in Indians history with 1265 strikeouts. Sabathia has one start against the Tribe this year, giving up five runs over 5 2/3 innings. Masahiro Tanaka (7-4, 3.46 ERA) will finish off the series on the mound for the Yankees. Tanaka has been the Yankees ace and most consistent starter this year. Tanaka had a very strong month of July, going 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA over five July starts, Tanaka had a rough start to August, though, as he gave up seven runs in 6 /3 innings in a losing effort against The Mets on August 2nd. Tanaka has made one start against the Indians this year, where he gave up seven runs (three earned) in 4 2/3 innings.

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The Yankees offense has been stagnant for most of 2016, as most of their lineup is players who are past their prime. That can not be said for everyone in the Yankees offense those, as Starlin Castro (.255, 11 HR, 42 RBI) and Didi Gregorius (.290, 12 HR, 48 RBI) are both 26 and having good years. Aside from those two, the Yankees lineup is filled with players who appear to be over the hump. Brian McCann (.236, 15 HR, 42 RBI) appears to be a placeholder at the catchers position, Mark Teixeira (.198, 10 HR, 27 RBI) and Alex Rodriguez (.204, 9 HR, 29 RBI) have both been hovering around the Mendoza line to start to season, and rumors have spread that Rodriguez might not finish the season with the Yankees. Teixeira has picked up his production lately, though, as he is batting .300 over his last seven games. ESPN’s Buster Olney is also reporting that Teixeira is expected to announce his retirement on Friday, making this his 14th and final season. The Yankees traded away another one of their veteran sluggers when they dealt Carlos Beltran (.304, 22 HR, 64 RBI in 99 games with the Yankees) to the Texas Rangers for three prospects. That deal leaves Jacoby Ellsbury (.268, 4 HR, 32 RBI,) Brett Gardner (.256, 7 HR, 27 RBI,) and Aaron Hicks (.190, 3 HR, 20 RBI) as the only outfielders on the Yankees 25-man roster, along with UTIL Rob Refsnyder (.248, 0 HR, 11 RBI).

The Indians pitching staff is coming off of a rough series against the Twins. No Tribe starter made it through five innings in any of the games against the Twins, and they combined to give up 24 runs over those four games. Josh Tomlin (11-3, 3.43 ERA) will look to right the ship for Tribe pitching on Friday. This will be Tomlin’s first start against the Yankees this year. Corey Kluber (10-8, 3.27 ERA) has arguably been the ace of this Indians staff this year, and he will face off against Sabathia in game two. Kluber is coming off one of his best starts of the year, a start in which he threw seven shutout innings against the Oakland A’s. Kluber has made one start against the Yankees this year, a start in which he gave up one run over eight innings in a winning effort. The Indians will close out the series with Carlos Carrasco (7-5, 3.12 ERA.) Carrasco had his worst start of the year his last time out against the Twins, a start in which gave up eight runs in 3 2/3 innings. Carrasco has made on start against the Yankees this year, giving up five runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Despite having to play from behind for most of the series against the Twins, the Indians offense didn’t roll over and die, as they came back to make most of the games interesting, albeit in a losing effort. Jason Kipnis (.285, 18 HR, 59 RBI) continues to hit at a torrid pace, as he is batting .331 in his last 30 games, and just set a new career high in home runs with 18. Mike Napoli (.253, 27 HR, 77 RBI) five-game home run streak may have ended on Thursday, but the big right-hander continues to be a catalyst for the Indians on offense. Carlos Santana‘s (.245, 25 HR, 65 RBI) power resurgence is continuing this year, and he could very well eclipse his career high of 27 home runs this year.

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The Indians are right in the thick of the playoff hunt, which makes each game an important one. The Yankees may mathematically still be in the playoff chase, but realistically have a very small shot of playing in October. The Indians come into this series looking for some quality starts from their starters, while the Yankees will send out their veterans in the hopes of securing a series win. The Indians lead the Al central by 7 1/2 games on July 20th, that lead has since dwindled to 3. This series against the Yankees could either give the Indians a cushion or put the Tigers in striking distance.

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