Cleveland Indians 2018 Season Preview

Corey Kluber put together a terrific season in 2017. He's hoping for more of the same in 2018 after struggling in the 2017 MLB Playoffs.

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 3/7/2018.

Cleveland Indians Batting Lineup

NO.	Batter	POS.	BA	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
1	Francisco Lindor	SS	.273	33	89	60	93	15
2	Jason Kipnis	2B	.232	12	35	28	71	6
3	Jose Ramirez	3B	.318	29	83	52	69	17
4	Edwin Encarnacion	DH	.258	38	107	104	133	2
5	Michael Brantley	LF	.299	9	52	31	50	11
6	Yonder Alonso	1B	.266	28	67	68	118	2
7	Yan Gomes	C	.232	14	56	31	99	0
8	Lonnie Chisenhall	RF	.288	12	53	25	55	2
9	Bradley Zimmer	CF	.241	8	39	26	99	18

Cleveland Indians Batting Lineup Summary: Cleveland has a very strong batting lineup. They got nine quality batters once again. Guys like Lindor and Kipnis took a step back with batting averages, but this lineup was plagued by injuries in 2017. Cleveland also has four great batters off the bench. Roberto Perez and Tyler Naquin are back. Also Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis from their 2016 World Series loss to the Chicago Cubs are both back on discount deals as bench players. Cleveland's batting lineup clicked when they had all this depth in 2016. In 2017, their batting lineup took a step back and it may click once again in 2018 with all this depth to compliment their starters.

Cleveland Indians Starting Rotation

NO.	Pitcher	IP	H	ERA	BB	SO	W	L
1	Corey Kluber	203	141	2.25	36	225	18	4
2	Carlos Carrasco	200	173	3.29	46	229	18	6
3	Mike Clevinger	121.2	92	3.11	60	137	12	6
4	Trevor Bauer	176.1	189	4.19	60	196	17	9
5	Josh Tomlin	141	166	4.98	14	109	10	9

Cleveland Indians Starting Rotation Summary: Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger, and Trevor Bauer form a potent four man rotation. Danny Salazar won't be ready for the start of the season so I moved him down to empty long reliever spot at the moment on my bullpen lineup. I do believe Salazar will jump Josh Tomlin forcing Tomlin to take a demotion to the bullpen.

Cleveland Indians Bullpen

NO.	Pitcher	IP	H	ERA	BB	SO	W	L
LR	Danny Salazar	103	94	4.28	44	145	5	6
LR	Cody Anderson	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	0
MR	Zach McCalister	62	53	2.61	21	66	2	2
MR	Nick Goody	54.2	39	2.80	20	72	1	2
MR	Dan Otero	60	63	2.85	9	38	3	1=9
MR	Tyler Olson	20	13	0.00	6	18	1	0
SU	Andrew Miller	62.2	31	1.44	21	95	4	3
CL	Cody Allen	67.1	57	2.94	21	92	3	7

Cleveland Indians Bullpen Summary: The Cleveland Indians have one of the strongest bullpens in Major League Baseball. Cody Anderson entered 2016 as the #4 starter, but did so bad that he got demoted to long reliever before settling into that role. Cleveland lost Bryan Shaw, but they still have four effective middle relievers to compliment set up pitcher Andrew Miller and closer Cody Allen. The weakness for the Indians' bullpen lies at the long reliever spot.

Prediction: I said Cleveland had the talent to win the 2017 World Series after losing the 2016 World Series. This team has talent to win the 2018 World Series. Cleveland will win the AL Central again. Whether they get eliminated in the ALDS or win the entire thing comes down to how good Corey Kluber is in October along with the batters. If Kluber plays like he did during the 2016 MLB Playoffs, Cleveland should win it all and break their 70 year World Series drought in 2018. If he plays like he did during the 2017 MLB Playoffs expect Cleveland to be eliminated in the ALDS by someone like Houston, New York, or Boston.