Cleveland Indians: Previewing three-game series against the White Sox

The Cleveland Indians are set to take on the Chicago White Sox, just three days removed from their last meeting. Here’s how they stack up this time around.

It’s always fun when the MLB schedule allows us to see the same team twice in a seven day span. The Cleveland Indians just finished playing in Chicago and now the White Sox come to Cleveland less than a week later. When teams play a series this close it means that we typically get to see some of the same pitching matchups.

Thats the case this week as we will see two of the same pitching matchups that we saw last week. The lineups haven’t changed much since their last meeting either. Tyler Naquin has returned to the Tribe lineup and has shaken the outfield formation a little bit. With Yonder Alonso still on the family emergency list, Erik Gonzalez has assumed a larger role in the lineup.

We’ll keep this preview a little shorter since the matchup is so similar to the one we had with the Sox last week. The Indians didn’t have a great weekend and have lost Carlos Carrasco to the DL. The White Sox have lost five of their last seven and are dueling with the Kansas City Royals to be the worst team in baseball. With that said let’s get right into the pitching matchups.

Probable Pitchers

RHP Dylan Covey (CWS) vs RHP Trevor Bauer (CLE)

LHP Carlos Rodon (CWS) vs RHP Mike Clevinger (CLE)

RHP Reynaldo Lopez (CWS) vs RHP Corey Kluber (CLE)

This is the only different matchup on the slate this week. The Indians saw Reynaldo Lopez back in May and he did not have a very fun day. The Indians scored seven runs in just two innings against Lopez. To make matters worse for Lopez, he has to go against an angry Corey Kluber.

Corey Kluber did not have a good outing against the Minnesota Twins on Friday. It was the first time since coming back from the DL during last season that he allowed more than three runs in an outing. His long-running streak of not allowing a walk ended in Friday’s game as well. So you can imagine Corey Kluber is not happy. If you’re the Chicago White Sox, that’s a scary thought.

Storylines

I’m not going to stop making Andrew Miller’s potential return a storyline until it happens.

Manager Terry Francona has made it abundantly clear that they’re thinking “long-term” with Andrew Miller‘s recovery. They should, the Indians can’t afford to lose Miller at a critical point in the season.

Tito said that Miller threw his best bullpen session since hitting the DL this weekend. So it’s safe to assume Miller will make his return in the coming days. With Carrasco hitting the DL, the bullpen will likely see more action than usual. All the more reason that a healthy Andrew Miller return is critical.

Worse/Best case scenario

Worse Case: 1-2 series loss

The Cleveland Indians will not be swept by the Chicago White Sox.The Cleveland Indians will not be swept by the Chicago White Sox. The Cleveland In- sorry. There’s no way that the White Sox sweep the Indians. I know Cleveland has had a fare share of poor outings thanks to a number of reasons. They may have pitching struggles at times and an unreliable offense

But this is still the White Sox. They aren’t a very good baseball team. The Indians are 5-2 against them this year. If the Indians want to let them catch up a little, fine. But please don’t get swept.

Next: Indians at no. 10 in ESPN Power Rankings

Best case: 3-0 series win

In a perfect world, this would be the best and worst case scenario because the Indians wouldn’t drop any games to a team as bad as the White Sox. But this isn’t a perfect world and the Indians aren’t a perfect team. But they are miles better than Chicago.