Series preview: Cleveland Indians at Kansas City Royals

The Indians finish their two-stop trip in Kansas City, trying to make a dent in the Royals' 5.5 game lead in the Al Central.

• Friday's game is at 8:10 PM (Salazar vs. Vargas)
• Saturday's game is at 7:10 PM (Bauer vs. Shields)
• Sunday's game is at 8:00 PM (House vs. Duffy) [ESPN]

The string of AL Central opponents continues on Monday at Progressive Field, when the Tigers visit for four games, followed by the White Sox and Twins, with a make-up date with the Angels squeezed in.

Playoff Watch: Tigers at White Sox, Nationals at Mariners, Yankees at Blue Jays, Red Sox at Rays.

Team in a Box

Since the Indians last saw the Royals at the end of July, they have been scorching hot. They have not lost a series since, save a one game makeup game with the Yankees. They may lead the division, but their numbers don't quite support being that high. They are four games over their Pythag. The offense is still pretty mediocre, with speed being its biggest asset. The pitching has been good, especially on the pen, but overall not otherworldy as the overall stats are middle of the pack. And the defense, while better than ours (duh), is just ninth in the league overall.

The first series in April had the Tribe win two of three. They didn't meet again until June when the Royals swept a two gamer from the Tribe in Kansas City in their first real hot streak. The Indians then took two of three in Progressive in early July before losing three of four in Kansas City towards the end of July.

Projected Roster

# Includes Twins stats; * Include Angels' stats

With Eric Hosmer on the DL, the Twins went out and got Willingham to platoon with Ibanez as the DH while Butler covers at first. He immediately becomes a power threat in a lineup devoid of too many options. Gordon leads the team with 17 and Perez and Moustakas have 15 apiece, no one else has more than 10. Gordon is still their most dangerous hitter. Escobar, Dyson and Cain all have 20+ steals with Aoki chipping in 15. Kratz and Colon look like decent options off the bench, albeit in small sample sizes. Infante has missed the past few games with a minor injury.

Moustakas has worn out the Cleveland staff this year, 267/313/733, including six bombs. Butler is hitting 295/304/500, but no other regular has cracked 800 OPS in the 13 games. Gordon has been the poorest at 167/196/271 and Infante and Perez both have sub-600 OPS in those games.

Projected Staff

# Includes Rangers' stats; * Includes White Sox stats

The Indians do miss the young flamethrower, but also miss their worst starter in Guthrie. They do get to face both lefties and their ace Shields. Vargas has paid off on his free agent deal so far. Since returning to the rotation in August, he has 2.59 ERA, 1.213 WHIP and 5.7 K/9. He won one of his two Tribe starts this year, 3.29 ERA, 1.024 WHIP and 4.6 K/9. The Yankees hit Shields pretty well last time out, but he still has a 3.28 ERA, 1.122 WHIP and 5.3 K/9 in his last five starts. He won his only Tribe start, six innings, two runs, one earned, six hits, one walk and nine strikeouts. Duffy finally looks like the top prospect he was in 2011. In the past month he has a 2.64 ERA, 0.913 WHIP and 6.5 K/9. He has two starts and a relief appearance against Cleveland this year, 2.40 ERA, 1.067 WHIP and 9.0 K/9.

As scary as Holland, Davis and Herrera have been, it is the rest of the bullpen that has been in constant flux this season. Thirteen different guys have appeared there with Aaron Crow (recently demoted) the only one with over 30 innings. Chen is definitely one lefty the Tribe hits well, 9.58 ERA in 10.1 innings. But other than Guthrie and Crow, the rest of the Royals staff has a 3.30 ERA or better and a WHIPs really close to 1.000. Davis is the one who has flirted with danger, he has allowed 12 baserunners in four innings but only one has scored.

On the Shelf

• RP Luke Hochevar [60 day DL], out for season
• 1B Eric Hosmer [15 day DL], possible early September return
• P Michael Mariot [60 day DL], out for season

Almanac

*Does not include 2014 stats

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