Corey Kluber returns for the Cleveland Indians as they face the Kansas City Royals

Cleveland Indians vs. Kansas City Royals

Thursday, September 17, 2015 @ 7:10 ET

Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio

TV: STO | Radio: WTAM

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The Indians have climbed back to .500, and to within 4 games of the second Wild Card spot, which is now held by the Houston Astros, who've been getting their butts handed to them by the Rangers this week.

Corey Kluber will return to the rotation tonight and make his first start in nearly three weeks. Every little bit counts for the Tribe right now, and if the Klubot is fully operational, he could make the difference of quite a few bits.

Elsewhere in the AL Wild Card race, it's a good news bad news sort of night for the Indians. The Astros and Rangers face off again, and with Texas now in front, it's best for the Tribe if they win again. Meanwhile, the Angels and Twins (the other two teams the Indians need to catch will play one another in Minnesota. That means one of them will win, but it also means one of them will lose. On the one hand, the Twins are two games farther ahead of the Indians than the Angels are, so it might be good to see Minnesota knocked back. On the other hand, the Indians have six games left against the Twins, and can theoretically take care of them themselves, so it might be better to see the Angels knocked out of the race this weekend.

The most important thing is that the Tribe needs to keep on winning.