Series preview: Indians vs. Tigers (April 15-17)

The Tribe finish this road trip with a three game set scheduled with the defending division champion Detroit Tigers.

• Tuesday's game is at 7:08 PM (McAllister vs. Sanchez) [Edit: postponed]
• Wednesday's game is at 7:08 PM (Salazar vs. Smyly) (McAllister vs. Sanchez)
• Thursday's game is at 1:08 PM (Masterson vs. Verlander) (Salazar vs. Verlander)

They then head home to take on the Toronto Blue Jays.

Division Watch: Red Sox at White Sox, Blue Jays at Twins, Royals at Astros.

Team in a Box

As well as the Indians did against the White Sox in 2013, they performed absolutely dreadful against the Tigers, going 4-15 and getting outscored by 50 runs. The Tigers ended June just six games over .500 and tied for first in the division. But they had a hot July and August, going 37-19 to enter September with a 7.5 game lead. They would need all of that lead as they coasted to the finish, one game up on the Tribe. They beat the A's in the ALDS 3-2 and then fell to the Red Sox 4-2 in the ALCS.

This offseason, they had a shuffling of the roster, dealing Prince Fielder and Doug Fister. They have a very strong core in the lineup with MVP Miguel Cabrera, the ageless Torii Hunter and former Tribesman, Victor Martinez. Even without Fister, the rotation still has three ace-like starters in Verlander, Scherzer and Sanchez. What they cannot afford is a key injury to any of those guys as their depth appears much worse than in previous seasons.

Projected Roster

The lineup is off to a poor start, which kind of frightens me for this series. Cabrera only has one homer and a mere 4 RBI. Jackson and Hunter are carrying the hitting so far and Davis has been a nice replacement for the injured Andy Dirks. What jumps out to me is how this offense is severely right handed. Luckily we do not have a left hander in our rotation.

Projected Staff

Originally we were slated to miss both Scherzer and Verlander, but Verlander has now been named for the Thursday start. Smyly will be making his season debut as a starter against us. Sanchez is the one who has struggled the most, only having 9 innings in two starts.

The bullpen, which gave them issues last season, again looks to be the weak part of the roster when compared to the lineup and rotation. Nathan has been hit hard so far and so has Chamberlain. Krol looks to be the key leftie in the pen as Coke ha not looked good. Remember that SSS especially still applies here.

On the Shelf

• LF Andy Dirks [15 day DL], possible June return
• SS Jose Iglesias [60 day DL] , possible late 2014 return
• RP Bruce Rondon [60 day DL] , out for season

Rondon was supposed to be a key set-up guy and a potential closer in waiting. Dirks was slated to start in left and the loss of Iglesias forced them to sign Gonzalez.

Almanac

*Does not include 2014 stats