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Pay close attention to this series single, isolated game. It could be our first round matchup in October, if the standings hold the rest of the way. It would also be a rematch of last year’s ALDS, which we of course lost.
I don’t know how to do tables, so the lineups are going to look very old fashioned.
The lineup for the Cleveland Indians is as follows:
- SS Francisco Lindor
- 2B Jason Kipnis
- 3B Jose Ramirez
- DH Edwin Encarnacion
- RF Jay Bruce
- 1B Carlos Santana
- CF Bradley Zimmer
- LF Abraham Almonte
- C Roberto Perez
- SP Trevor Bauer
The lineup for your hometown Boston Red Sox is:
- DH Eduardo Nunez
- LF Andrew Benintendi
- RF Mookie Betts
- 1B Mitch Moreland
- 3B Rafael Devers
- SS Xander Bogaerts
- 2B Brock Holt
- C Christian Vazquez
- CF Jackie Bradley Jr.
- Doug Fister
You’ll notice the most obvious change in the Indians lineup from the last time we faced them. They’ve since acquired a red-hot Jay Bruce, which is a bad thing for us. And you’ll notice that facing this Indians lineup that features several good hitters is Doug Fister. Those are two things I’m not enthused about.
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But the list of good things outweighs the bad. For starters, Trevor Bauer is very bad against the Red Sox in his career. He has a 12.91 ERA in 3 games against the Red Sox (lasting a total of 7.2 innings total). He’s marginally better at Fenway Park (with only a 12.15 ERA in 2 games), but if history repeats itself, he’ll be either very bad, or not go very deep, so let’s hope for the best. Additionally, we have Rafael Devers, who proved last night he can probably hit a home run off of anything.
No, seriously. That homer last night was the first off Chapman all season, it was the fastest hit dinger ever (at least, as far as we can tell since the start of the velocity tracking era), and it came at the most important of times. If nothing else, I have faith Devers could hit a game winning 5-run homer should the need arise (how that works out logistically is a question for men smarter than I).
This is just a one game dalliance, before we face the Cardinals and rematch with the Yankees (you thought round 1 was fun?), so we’re not going to see everything we will probably see in October. This game is, after all, the makeup game for the rain out on August 2nd.
Will the Red Sox win, and prove that even Doug Fister can beat the Indians? Or will the Indians prevail against a pitcher who probably won’t even be part of the playoff roster? Only tonight will we find that answer out. Or not. It’s entirely possible both teams no hit each other for 24 innings, and we learn nothing outside of the fact that we are gluttons for punishment, staying up until 4 AM to watch a baseball game.
Go Sox!