Cleveland Indians: Time to pull away from the Kansas City Royals
The Cleveland Indians face the Kansas City Royals in six of the next ten games, giving the Tribe a golden opportunity to end the Royals’ division hopes.
The Kansas City Royals still have a great chance to win one of the two Wild Card spots, but it is about time the Cleveland Indians eliminate any hopes of a division title for the 2015 World Series champions.
The Indians enter tonight with a 5.5-game lead over the Royals in the AL Central. Counting tonight, the Indians’ next ten games feature six against the Royals.
So here we are once again in 2017. The Indians have a great chance to really pull away in the division. Winning two out of three against the Minnesota Twins was a nice start to keep the Twins six games back, but the Indians cannot afford to falter in these six games against the Royals.
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The next ten games will give fans a great sense of this team’s potential. The Indians are currently at a point where fans are feeling confident once again, but that confidence has come crashing down several times earlier this season.
The team is still without Michael Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall, but Andrew Miller is back and the addition of Jay Bruce helps shore up the outfield until Chisenhall returns, hopefully next week.
The starting rotation is putting up insane numbers and the offense put up 19 runs in three games against the Twins.
So all signs are pointing toward this group finally putting it all together, but one must be careful not to underestimate the Royals.
Kansas City fans know the Royals may not be the most talented team, but they were able to do just enough to win a World Series two seasons ago. That experience makes the group one that could go on another improbable run in what may be the final season where the core group is together.
Yet nothing squashes hope like a healthy dose of Corey Kluber strikeouts and Edwin Encarnacion home runs.
Next: 3 takeaways from the series in Minnesota
Next Sunday is when the final of the six upcoming games against the Royals will be played, and it is safe to say fans are hoping the division lead is well over its current mark of 5.5 games. However, as long as it doesn’t dip below that mark, the Royals will be running out of time to make up so much ground.