Sunday morning Francona said the Indians might consider going with a three-man rotation with the No.1 starter going into the bullpen after his start. That way Francona would be able to carry an extra position player such as Michael Brantley.

ALDS game times for Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field:
7:38 p.m. Thursday, 5:08 p.m. Friday
Updated on October 1, 2017 at 10:17 PM Posted on October 1, 2017 at 9:53 PM

phoynes@cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio - MLB has announced the start times for the wild card games and the division series games through Saturday.

The Indians will play Game 1 of the AL Division Series on Thursday at 7:38 p.m. at Progressive Field. They will play the winner of Tuesday's wild-card game between the Yankees and Twins. The wild card game will be played at Yankee Stadium at 8:09 p.m.

On Friday, the Indians will play Game 2 of the best-of-five division series at 5:08 p.m. Fox Sports 1 or MLB Network will carry those two games.

The Indians will travel to New York or Minneapolis to play Game 3 on Sunday. The time for that game has not been announced.

The AL Division Series between the Red Sox and Astros will begin on Thursday at 4:08 p.m. ET at Minute Maid Park. Game 2 of the Red Sox-Astros Division Series will be played Friday at 2:05 p.m. Fox Sports 1 or MLB Network will carry those games.

Wednesday's NL wild card game between the Colorado and Arizona at Chase Field will start at 8:08 p.m. ET.

The NL Division Series will start on Friday. The Cubs will face the Nationals at Nationals Park at 7:31 p.m. The wild card winner will play the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium at 10:31 p.m. ET.

The second game of the NL Division Series will be played Saturday. The Cubs will be at Washington at 5:38 p.m, while the wild card winner will face the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium at 9:08 p.m. TBS will televise the NL Division Series.

Thinking about our potential match up. Yankees have a lineup that can be pitched to, Twins have some tough outs. But Yankees have a Frankenstein bullpen, and that can go a long way in playoffs. We have home field advantage yet Twins have owned us at home.

Each team has their challenges. Won't be rooting one way or the other. Bring it on.

Totally agree. Impossible to say who we might match up better against.

And we should be able to take either. If not, well then the Tribe isn't as good as we think.

Or as driven.

Personally, I think beneath the surface they are insanely driven by last year.

BOTH by last year and the fact that there is a crazy amount of driven guys on this team. Led by Lindor, Jose Ramirez and Kluber.

Bob DiBiasio (@BDbaseball6):

A wise baseball man once told me: a team will win 60 & lose 60-it’s what u do w/the 42 that determines your season. ‘17 Tribe won them all!

J.R. wrote:Bob DiBiasio (@BDbaseball6):

A wise baseball man once told me: a team will win 60 & lose 60-it’s what u do w/the 42 that determines your season. ‘17 Tribe won them all!

Wow!

PD experts predicted the pitchers on the roster will be

Kluber, Carrasco and Bauer plus Tomlin
Allen, Miller, Shaw, Smith, Clevinger, Olson, Goody and Otero in the pen

I'd expect Salazar instead of Otero.

two were Tribe draft picks, a 8th or so rounder and a 30th or so rounder; 4 acquired in trades while they were still minor leaguers - one [for Lee] as part of a dump of a deadline deal big salary, one for a smaller deadline deal salary dump [for Westbrook], one [for Choo] in an offseason deal; one when we simply cleared roster space [Pestano]; another vet in the Choo deal; three on their list are waiver wire pickups; one big deal deadline trade of our prospects; one in small deadline deal for lesser prospects;

and today they guess the other 13:

Twelve players were considered locks: catchers: Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez; infielders: Carlos Santana, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Yandy Diaz, Edwin Encarnacion and Giovanny Urshela and outfielders: Jay Bruce, Jason Kipnis, Austin Jackson and Lonnie Chisenhall.

With 12 positions already filled, the discussion came down to one spot on the roster and who would fill it - Greg Allen, Erik Gonzalez or Brandon Guyer. The panel chose Allen because they felt he could replace Kipnis in center field for defensive purposes late in the game should the Indians have a lead.

??Guyer?? he hasn't played in weeks, not a single at bat. More serious option is Brantley . Tito has suggested he'd like to have Brantley if only to pinch hit. If so, he'd lose Allen and sacrifice defense in center, which he won't want to do either.


The 12 locks include 2 first round draft picks, a second round pick, a ninth round pick, 3 international signings; 1 big money free agent; 1 small money free agent; 1 big name acquired in dump trade at deadline; 1 acquired in minor deal; 1 acquired in one of our deadline dump deals.

Terry Francona said Trevor Bauer will start Game 1 of the AL Division Series for the Indians on Thursday night at Progressive Field. The rest of the rotation will go as follows: Corey Kluber in Game 2 on Friday, Carlos Carrasco in Game 3 on Sunday and Josh Tomlin in Game 4 on Monday.

Heard someone on MLB-TV say that Brantley made the roster, does that mean Allen is out?

Here's the roster breakdown:

Catchers (two): Yan Gomes, Roberto Perez.

Starting rotation (four): Bauer, Kluber, Carrasco and Tomlin.

Bullpen (seven): Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, Joe Smith, Andrew Miller, Mike Clevinger, Danny Salazar, Tyler Olson.

Infielders (six): Carlos Santana, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Urshela, Gonzalez and Edwin Encarnacion.

Outfielders (six): Jay Bruce, Austin Jackson, Kipnis, Allen, Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall.

Not on roster: Yandy Diaz, Nick Goody, Dan Otero and Zach McAllister

Full of surprises really. Obviously Bauer in game 1 is the biggest

But we all know a Goody was really relied on this year in a lot of big situations.

That said "In Tito I Trust"

It seems strange not to have Corey in game one, but it hardly matters really does it which of the 3 main starters work in which game? If Kluber pitched the opener he still wouldn't be available again until game 5 so this gets him normal rest.

More surprised that Goody was left off although he has been somewhat less effective in the later stages of the season. ERA and WHIP by month:

April 0.00 0.55
May 0.00 0.83
June 3.18 1.41
July 6.23 1.73
Aug 7.50 1.00
Sept 1.93 0.86

Obviously was on the rebound in September.