Cleveland Indians Host Chicago in Final Home Series of 2016

It’s the last series of the season at Progressive Field for the Cleveland Indians. Here’s what you need to know about their opponent, the Chicago White Sox.

It doesn’t seem possible that the regular season in Major League Baseball is winding down. Wasn’t it only a week or two ago that pitchers and catchers were reporting to Spring Training in Goodyear, that the promise of a new season was upon us, that anything could happen for our Cleveland Indians?

Hard as it may be to believe, there are just three home games remaining for the Tribe, the first of which will take place on Friday night against the Chicago White Sox. At 89-63, Cleveland has a seven-game lead in the American League Central Division and a magic number of just four to clinch its first title since 2007.

The Indians are fresh off a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals, a series that in many ways was a microcosm of how 2016 has gone for the club. Despite adversity, the Tribe used late-inning heroics, solid starting pitching, timely hitting, and a dominant bullpen to wipe out the defending world champs.

Now Cleveland has a chance, if things break the right way, to clinch the division at home, make a run at the best record in the AL and by extension home field advantage in the postseason, and clarify which players will be a part of the roster when the playoffs get underway in just under two weeks.

Chicago comes to town 72-80, 17 games behind the Indians in the Central, and mired in a five-game losing streak. The White Sox have gotten the short end of the stick in this season’s head-to-head matchup with the Tribe, losing 10 of the 16 games played thus far, and being outscored 76-64.

So the Sox are already waiting for next year, and looking to play the role of spoiler as the season approaches the finish line. The Indians would like to continue their dominance over the southsiders, and see their magic number whittled down to zero.

Here’s what you need to know about games 79, 80, and 81 at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.