Last Night's Game
Alex Avila slugs the Tigers to victory over the Indians - Let's Go Tribe
Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers - September 13, 2014 | MLB.com CLE Recap
Unless something completely unexpected happens in the last two weeks of the season, the dreams of contention died in the bottom of eighth inning. For before that inning, the Indians could have ended the series 2.5 games behind the Tigers, and which possibly could have been the Wild Card deficit (if Seattle loses today). But now the best-case scenario will be a 4.5 game deficit in the division, and a 4.0 game deficit in Wild Card race, with other teams also between them and the respective division and wild card leaders. With two weeks left, the chances of the Indians actually making up that ground is rather remote.
Indians News
Hyperextended knee forces Raburn from game | indians.com
Another injury for Raburn, who had actually a nice first two games of the series at the plate. It appears that he injured his knee attempting to make a catch in the third inning. Had Raburn made the catch, the Tigers would not have scored two runs, and would have trailed the Indians by three runs heading into the bottom of the eighth. The story mentions that Raburn will miss at least a couple games, but effectively I would imagine his season is over.
Jason Kipnis fires back at fan's criticism on Twitter | cleveland.com
A brief overview: a fan posted a comment saying in effect the team is pathetic, and tagged Kipnis' account. Kipnis responded in a rather NSFW fashion, which has since been deleted, but was captured in the article. I actually liked the response, though the language was probably too over-the-top. Though I suppose if I were trying to fight through an injury all season and some random person on Twitter called my team pathetic, I'd be pretty worked up, too.
Cougars Win Midwest League Championship | Lake County Captains News
The Captains were swept by Kane County in the MWL Championship, but even so, it was a very promising season for Lake County. After a slow start, they made the playoffs based on a very nice second record, and several prospects started to excel (Mitch Brown, Luis Lugo, Clint Frazier, Anderson Polanco, among others). Bradley Zimmer, who spent most of his first pro season in Mahoning Valley, moved up to Lake County for the playoffs and did very well. All that talent should be moving up to Carolina next season, and perhaps may make an appearance Akron before the end of 2015.
Latest 25-man/40-man Roster
(click to embiggen)
Chris Dickerson was outrighted earlier this week, so there are now 39 on the 40-man roster, and presumably that shouldn't change between now and the end of the season.
AL Central News
J.D. Martinez is destroying the AL Central - Bless You Boys
Thanks, Houston.
Royals Score More Runs Than Necessary; Win - Royals Review
The Royals kept pace with Detroit by finally defeating the Boston Red Sox.
The 2014 Minnesota Twins and the struggle for "better" - Twinkie Town
The 2014 Twins are likely going to end up with a record similar to the 2013 Twins, so the results on the field certainly aren't showing any signs of improvement. But it looks like Ron Gardenhire and Terry Ryan are safe, at least until 2015 or 2016, by which time the bulk of the top prospects in the system will have reached the majors.
Chris Sale builds Cy Young case on rates - South Side Sox
Chris Sale doesn't have the innings to compare with the counting stats that Hernandez and Kluber have accumulated, but if you look at his rate stats, he's been better than both pitchers.