Cleveland Indians lose wild-card ground on day off

Angels 3, Astros 6

The Tribe may have had a night off, but there was still a game that had major implications for all the AL wild-card contenders. And unfortunately, a third successive win for the Astros now means that the gap is now 4.5 games with only 14 games remaining. If the Angels don't beat the Astros in the remaining two games of that series, then that will make the Tribe's formidable task even more uphill (unless the Rangers suffer a major collapse).

Indians news & notes

Triple-A championship: Behind rallying cry, Clippers find a way | The Columbus Dispatch
This evening the Columbus Clippers are playing in the AAA National Championship Game in El Paso, Texas. It's a "winner takes all" one-game showdown against the Fresno Grizzlies (Astros). Lefty Ryan Merritt is on the mound for the Clippers.

Hey, Hoynsie | cleveland.com
Buried in the latest batch of Q&As is the following: "The Indians have made it clear that they are not going to be big players in the free-agent market this winter. The lessons from Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn still sting."

Lonnie Chisenhall, Alex Gordon on same path | indians.com
August Fagerstrom draws some interesting parallels between the two 3B turned OF: "As Chisenhall continues to defy convention and expectations with his defense in right field, it's made more remarkable by the fact that he's learning on the fly. Gordon's transition, dictated by Royals general manager Dayton Moore, came with ample time to work out the kinks in the Minors. Chisenhall's move happened in the blink of an eye."

The AL wild card race, potential scheduling chaos and Trevor Bauer's drone | cleveland.com
Zack Meisel rounds up the latest news on a quiet Monday for Tribe fans.

Brewers name David Stearns General Manager | MLB Trade Rumors
The 30yo Stearns was Director of Baseball Operations for the Indians in 2011-12.

Tidbits from around MLB

Samardzija dominates Tigers with "Maddux" | MLB.com
The Shark had been pitching pretty terribly of late, so this 88-pitch gem came just in time for his pending free agency. According to the inventor of the Maddux (some guy called Lukehart!), this was the shortest Maddux of the eight thrown this year.

The year in projecting | FanGraphs Baseball
Jeff Sullivan looks at how effective projection systems have been for predicting team records this year. Not very, and they aren't really getting any better...

2015 MLB Draft: First round hitters review and results | Minor League Ball
Of course, the Tribe went with pitcher Brady Aiken in the 1st round, but there were some interesting hitters still on the board at that time. Looking at the guys they passed on, I'm not disappointed at the moment.

Postseason rotations and matching up aces | FanGraphs Baseball
Roger Cheng recommends that you shouldn't hold back your ace, just because they will be facing another ace in Game 1. Chance would be a fine thing...

Matt Harvey, Hansel Robles, and hindsight | FanGraphs Baseball
I'm not sure why I'm linking to this, as frankly I find the whole Mets/Harvey soap opera rather tedious. But it's a quiet news day, and if anyone is still following along, then Dave Cameron has a good take on Sunday's latest episode in the saga.