Cleveland Indians: Scoreboard watching with 12 games remaining

The Cleveland Indians have a great shot to finish atop the American League and remain in the hunt to finish with the best overall record in baseball.

Teams are usually able to relax after clinching the division in September, but that is not the case for the Cleveland Indians in 2017. There is still more to be won.

Indians fans remember the “hangover game” from 2016, when the Indians played all their backups the day after clinching the division. This year’s version of that was a Kluber game, where the team celebrated clinching in front of the fans at home by picking up a series victory over the Kansas City Royals.

The reason to hold off on letting up before October is the fact the Indians remain in two important races. The first is in the American League and the second is for the top record in baseball.

Home-field advantage in the playoffs isn’t the sole key to success, but the Indians were able to open at home in all three postseason series a year ago, and that is a nice feeling, at least for the fans. But everything changes once the first pitch is thrown.

The Indians enter today up 1.5 games over the Houston Astros for the top record in the AL. The Astros have 13 games remaining, while the Indians have just 12.

It is tough to play the schedule game in September in general, but it gets even harder with the stretch the Indians are on. With 24 wins in the last 25 games, it’s a bit difficult to try to say which of the remaining 12 games the Indians will win.

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The same goes for the Astros, who have series against the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox to close out the regular season. The White Sox are the only bad team on the list, but perhaps they step up as a unit to get some momentum heading into next season.

Making predictions is also tough when it comes to the Dodgers, who are three games up over the Indians for the best record in baseball. The Dodgers are currently in a series against the Philadelphia Phillies, but dropped the series opener on Monday with Clayton Kershaw on the mound.

The team then heads to San Francisco, one of the other worst teams in baseball, before heading to take on another lowly team in San Diego. Yet with the slide the Dodgers have been on this month, Indians fans should be hopeful of fighting for that top spot up until the final day of the season.

Next: Indians remain at No. 1

The Indians have to keep winning for any of the scoreboard watching to matter, and based on the past 25 games, there should be plenty of winning still to come before October arrives.