The Cleveland Indians take on the Twins with the faintest postseason hopes still alive

The Tribe has made a marginal dent in their poor divisional record the past couple of weeks, winning or splitting each of the series. Next on the docket are the Minnesota Twins.

• Tuesday 8:10 PM: Danny Salazar (R) vs. Ervin Santana (R)
• Wednesday 8:10 PM: Corey Kluber (R) vs. Phil Hughes (R)
• Thursday 8:10 PM: Cody Anderson (R) vs. Kyle Gibson (R)

The Upcoming Schedule: This final road trip finishes off in Kansas City with the Royals. Then, the Tribe comes home for the final week of the season with these Twins and Red Sox.

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Playoff Watch: Mariners at Royals, Yankees at Blue Jays, Rangers at A's, Angels at Astros, Orioles at Nationals, Rays at Red Sox.

Team in a Box

In early April, the Tribe lost two of three in Minnesota and then in early May, the Twins also took of three in Cleveland. In August, each team won their home series by a 2-1 margin, giving the Twins a 7-5 edge on the year.

In early September, the Twins took two of three in Kansas City and Chicago, but have struggled since. The Tigers won a series in Minnesota and the Angels just took three of four.

Projected Roster

I still don't get how this team scores as many runs as it does. They don't get on base well at all, yet convert at a much better rate than the Tribe. In their past eleven games, they have had a power outburst of 15 home runs. Hunter and Plouffe have three apiece while Rosario, Sano, and Escobar have two each. Hunter also had a 11 RBI with a 1097 OPS in that timeframe. Plouffe (1023), Rosario (1023) and Sano (987) have been hot.

In the 12 Tribe games, Hunter has also done most of his damage. He has a 353/405/824 slash with 4 homers and 12 driven in. Nobody else has more than five. Dozier also has four homers with an 884 OPS.

Projected Staff

# includes stats with Rays; ## includes stats with Brewers

Santana has had a rough season since coming off his suspension, but has been pitching much better lately. He has a 2.84 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 9.4 K/9 in his past four starts. The Tribe walloped him for eight runs in just 2.1 innings in the 17-4 game on August 8. Hughes just recently returned to action from injury, making a three inning start on 9/15 against Detroit and pitching two innings in relief on 9/19. He will likely be on a strict pitch count. He gave four runs in both of his April/May starts, winning one and losing the other. The Tribe blasted him for seven runs in three innings on August 9, prompting his DL stint. Gibson has been very effective lately. He has a 2.67 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 6.4 K/9 in his past five starts. He hasn't faced the Indians in 2015, but has a 5.61 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in five career starts.

The Tribe has hit the Twins bullpen fairly well, with a 4.21 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 7.1 K/9 covering 47 innings. Most of the damage was against Achter, O'Rourke and Graham however. Perkins, Fien, Boyer and Duensing have all pitched well.

On the Shelf

• SP Tom Milone [day to day], no timetable for return
• SP Ricky Nolasco [60 day DL], possible late September return
• P Ryan Pressley [60 day DL], out for season

Almanac

*Does not include 2015 stats

Prediction: All three games should favor the Tribe. But as has proven most of the season, this team cannot string a long streak together. I'll call for a series win with the bats going silent in one of the three games.