What a night. What a season. if you happened to turn in early last night and missed the game, good morning! Welcome to the post-clinch world in which the AL Central Champions are your Cleveland Indians! With last night's 7-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers, the Indians officially eliminated the Tigers from the AL Central race and clinched their spot in the ALDS. Over the course of the next six days, the remaining games will determine the seeding for the AL half of the playoffs; here's to hoping that the Tribe can finish strong and avoid the Red Sox in the ALDS. And now, onto the news!
Indians 7, Tigers 4
LGT Recap | Cleveland.com Recap | Box Score
Corey Kluber left the game after just four innings of work with a groin injury, but the Indians managed to tack on a few more runs over the remaining five innings and defeated the Tigers for the fourteenth time in 2016. As of now, it doesn't seem as if Kluber's early departure is anything to be overly concerned about. Other highlights included Andrew Miller going 1.2 innings of scoreless relief (with four strikeouts) and Roberto Perez having another fantastic game with three hits and 2 RBIs.
Indians news
When Danny Salazar went down, the Indians' chances in the playoffs took a significant hit. While he may not be ready to start any games in the playoffs, Salazar recently threw a bullpen session and looked and felt great. Getting a healthy Salazar back, even out of the bullpen, could be huge for the Tribe in October.
As expected, the social medias exploded with jubilation when the Cleveland Indians clinched the AL Central. In my opinion, the article missed the most excited tweet of all:
Tribe clinches AL Central.
— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) September 27, 2016
WHOA THERE, CALM DOWN THERE HOYNSIE.
Around the League
- If anyone ever tells you that baseball can't be emotional and beautiful, show them the stirring tribute that the Miami Marlins paid to their fallen teammate Jose Fernandez.
- In last night's Marlins game, every player wore #16. No Marlins player will ever wear that number again.
- The Yankees and Blue Jays had quite the physical game last night with two bench-clearing incidents.
- The Chicago Cubs have reached 100 wins.
- And finally, one more tweet that pokes fun at Hoynsie courtesy of our resident robot:
For the doubters! pic.twitter.com/bUFHIGnwPJ
— Corey Kluber (@CKluber) September 27, 2016