Cleveland Indians sweep Tigers, tie Rays for second Wild Card spot

The Cleveland Indians absolutely dominated the Detroit Tigers in 2019. That has allowed the Indians to jump back into the Wild Card picture.

The Cleveland Indians are back in the playoff picture after sweeping the Detroit Tigers.

The Indians are tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the second Wild Card spot after picking up win No. 18 against the Tigers in 2019. If the Indians do end up making the playoffs, fans may have to send some thank you notes up north to Michigan.

An absolutely insane record that shows just how bad the Tigers are. The team’s record? A whopping 45-107.

Thursday’s game was never in doubt. Mike Clevinger went six scoreless and left the game with a 7-0 lead. Franmil Reyes had a monster home run. Roberto Perez drove in two runs. Yu Chang got the start at third! All was well.

Now the fun begins as the Indians, Rays, and A’s are all in action tonight.

The Indians begin a three-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Rays have four against the Boston Red Sox, and the A’s have three against the Texas Rangers.

Both the Indians and the Rays are 90-63. The A’s are 92-61. Things are a bit different compared to the past three years when the Indians were locking up easy AL Central crowns.

As for that race, the Indians are still four games behind the Minnesota Twins with nine to play. I do not see the Indians catching the Twins considering the division leaders only play the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers for the rest of the season. Even if the Royals put up a fight, the Tigers will be three easy victories.

Just to drive the point home, the Indians went 18-1 against the Tigers!

Sweeping the Tigers was a must and the Indians surprised me, even after entering the series with that 15-1 record. Injuries have obviously hurt the Tribe in 2019 but the Tigers proved to be bad enough to make it an easy sweep.

Now comes the final nine games and it appears Jose Ramirez will be ready for the final six or so. That is crazy news after his injury and it seems like he is ready to deal with some pain in order to help his team reach the postseason.

That is something we can all rally behind. His teammates just need to take at least two of three from the Phillies this weekend to keep pace in the Wild Card race. A sweep would be nice too.