clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Series Preview: Cleveland Indians

Some facts about the Royals upcoming opponent.

By Craig Brown
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals travel to Cleveland tonight to open a four game series. The Indians stand 8-10 on the season and are currently in fifth place in the Central. Here is how the two clubs stack up offensively.

Tot_hitting421_large

Cleveland manager Terry Francona has used 13 different lineups in 18 games. With the return of Michael Bourn, he now seems set with his starting nine.

Michael Bourn - CF
Nick Swisher - 1B
Jason Kipnis - 2B
Carlos Santana - 3B
Michael Brantley - LF
Asdrubal Cabrera - SS
David Murphy - RF
Yan Gomes - C
Lonnie Chisenhall - DH

The Indians pitching is striking out over a batter an inning, but they're having difficulty keeping runs off the board.

Tot_pitching421_large

Let's take a look at how their rotation sets up for this four game series:

Rotation421_large

So far for the Indians, their bullpen has been the star:

Split W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP SO9 SO/W
as Starter 3 7 .300 5.11 18 18 0 0 0 0 98.2 114 61 56 8 41 2 100 6 0 7 448 1.571 9.1 2.44
as Reliever 5 3 .625 2.76 66 0 18 0 0 6 58.2 46 23 18 3 32 4 64 2 0 4 253 1.330 9.8 2.00
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/21/2014.

Courtesy Daily Baseball Data, here are how the Cleveland relievers have been used over the last week:

Bullpen421_large

Finally, a look at the Cleveland defense. The UZR/150 is their career totals at their listed position.

Indiansd_large

*The idea behind this post is to bring a basic snapshot of the Royals opponent at the start of a series in a more visual presentation. It's a work in progress, so if you have any feedback, I'd like to read about it in the comments. Stuff like stats you'd like to see, other info, or even if you like (or don't like) the idea. Let me know.

More From Royals Review