Cleveland Indians @ Detroit Tigers Series Preview (May 10th-12th)

(19-12) Detroit Tigers @ Cleveland Indians (18-14)

Probable Starters:

Game 1 -|- May 10th, 7:08PM ET. -|- Corey Kluber (2-1; 3.06 ERA vs. Max Scherzer (4-0) 3.43 ERA

Game 2 -|- May 11th, 7:08PM ET. -|- Ubaldo Jimenez (2-2); 6.37 ERA vs. Justin Verlander (4-2); 1.55 ERA

Game 3 -|- May 12th, 1:08PM ET. -|-Zach McAllister (3-3); 2.63 ERA vs. Rick Porcello (1-2); 7.52 ERA

How they got here:

The Tribe have now won 10 of their last 11, including four in a row.  The Indians swept the Athletics in a four-game home series and are playing some of the best baseball in the majors right now. Cleveland outscored Oakland 21-8 during the series and has outscored opponents 76-26 in the last 11 games.  The Indians now turn their attention to their AL Central rivals, the Detroit Tigers, in a three-game weekend series. Can the Tribe keep up their hot hitting ways? Will the pitching staff continue to ooze consistency? (in eight of their last 10 wins the winning decision has gone to the starter).

The Tigers have been doing some damage of their own. The defending American League champions have gotten out to a solid start once again this year. Led by perennial MVP contender Miguel Cabrera. Detroit leads the AL Central by 1.5 games over the Indians and Royals and have won nine of their last 11 games. The Tigers have a Major-League best run differential of +50. The Tribe will have their hands full in this weekend series as two of the hottest teams in baseball square off.

Early season rankings: (ML-ranking)

Runs Scored: 

Cleveland 154 (8th) 

Detroit 165 (5th)

Runs Allowed:

Cleveland 130 (11th) 

Detroit 115 (5th)

Batting Average:

Cleveland .269 (4th)

Detroit .283 (1st)

Fun stat: This week's fun stat is a lot of fun for the Tribe and its fans. The Indians lead the AL in HR's this season with 46 dingers. Mark Reynolds also leads the AL with his 11 early bombs. Last season the Tribe only hit 136 HR's, which ranked them 25th in the majors.

Impact players for the series:

Cleveland: Jason Kipnis-

A new impact player for this week is someone who has finally started to come around during this home-stand. Kipnis' numbers in the tribe's last 7 games are as follows: Batting .306 (8-for-26) with 2 HRs, 2 3Bs, 1 2B and 7 Runs batted in. If Kipnis can stay hot, he will give the Tribe a chance against some tough Tigers' pitching. Kipnis currently leads the majors in 1st-inning HRs with 4. Another key for the Tribe might be the return of CF Michael Bourn.  Bourn will be re-activated tonight and it will be interesting to see if Tito Francona will have him in the lineup for tomorrow night's game.

Honorable mention: Carlos Santana, Mark Reynolds and Michael Bourn

Detroit: Miguel Cabrera-

This is an obvious choice, although it will certainly be pick your poison with this Detroit ballclub that leads the majors in Batting Average. Cabrera leads the AL in Batting Average, hitting .381 early in the season so far. Cabrera also has 17 BB's to only 16 K's.  Cabrera only has 6 HRs thus far, but look for the slugger to hit at least one during the upcoming season. 

Keys for the series:

1. If it's not broken, don't try and fix it: Whatever this Cleveland Indians Starting Rotation has been doing, they just need to keep doing that. Quick shout-out to Scott Kazmir on his performance today, 6.0 IP, 10 Ks, 0 BBs and just 1 ER.  Impressive outing for Scotty. The Tribe rotation has been the epitome of consistency in the last 11 games.  In 10 of their last 11 games, Tribe starters have allowed more than 3 Earned Runs only once. One time. Mind not blown yet? Keep reading... Indians' starters in the last 11 games have allowed only 20 Earned Runs in 70 and 2/3s innings.  That works out to an ERA of 2.55.  Can they keep it up at that rate? Not likely, but if they continue to be consistent, watch out baseball.

2. Beat your rivals: If the Indians want to have a chance at the AL Central crown this season, they must improve against the division.  The Tribe were a combined 31-41 (.431) against the rest of the Central last season. The only team they had a winning record against? The Detroit Tigers. The Tribe had a 10-8 record against the eventual American League champs. The Tigers are probably considered the Indians' biggest rival and many expect Detroit to have a real shot at winning it all this season.  The Tribe must replicate it's 2012 results against the Tigers to have a chance to spoil those dreams.

3. Can they hit legitimate pitching?: This is an important question.  During the Indians hot streak in the last 11 games, the Tribe has not faced a pitcher of the caliber of Justin Verlander.  Max Scherzer is no slouch either.  If the pitching staff can keep it up, it'll be interesting to see if the offense can continue its current pace (averaging 6.9 runs per game). Having a healthy Michael Bourn (knock on wood) back would be beneficial for this key.

Next series: Hosting the New York Yankees for a 2-game doubleheader on Monday.

Here are some links for the day! Don't forget to check out these other stories:

- Check out the numbers behind Mark Reynolds' scorching start here.

- Game recaps from game 1,2 and 3 of the Oakland series can be found here, here and here, respectively.

-MLB's take on the controversial call at the end of the Oakland game last night is right here.

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