Last season there wasn’t one team in the American League Central that faired worse against the other teams in the division than the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe finished 2015 with a 32-43 record (.426 winning percentage) against their division rivals.
The club failed to play .500 or better baseball against any of the teams in the division. The closest they came against any of the four teams was by posting a 9-10 record against the Chicago White Sox and eventual World Series Champion Kansas City Royals. The Indians won only seven of their 19 contests with the Minnesota Twins and went 7-11 when they faced off with their biggest rival, the Detroit Tigers.
Every year the Indians (along with the rest of baseball) play 76 of their 162 games against divisional opponents, so success in the division is paramount to a team’s success any given year.
So far this season the Tribe has played much better against the Central as they’ve started 2016 with an 8-3 record against the division. This is good news for Indians fans as the AL Central looks like it may be one of the more competitive divisions in baseball.
The White Sox have gotten off to the hottest start in the American League by winning 19 of 29 to begin the young season. The Indians squared off with the Sox two times in April and split the two games they got in at Comiskey Park (one was postponed).
The Tigers are 14-7 when they play against anyone not named the Indians this season but, so far so good for the Tribe when they face off against the Tigers.
The Indians have taken the first six games of the season from Detroit after being pushed around the past couple years (especially 2014) by the Tigers. Through six games the Tribe has outscored the Tigers by a score of 38-12.
Minnesota has been one of the worst teams in baseball throughout the first month of the season but that didn’t stop them from taking two of three from the Indians when they came to town for the first time in 2016.
The Twins caught the Tribe at the perfect time as the Indians began a 1-5 stretch when they traveled to Minnesota. This Twins team is one that the Tribe will have to take care of the remainder of the season if they want to be in contention in September.
The Kansas City Royals come to town this weekend for a three game series to kick off the competition in 2016. The Royals are sitting at 14-13 coming off their World Series victory last fall. Over the past few seasons the Tribe has faired pretty well against Kansas City and they will look to continue that play beginning Friday night.
8-3 is a good start in the division for a team that has really struggled the past few seasons against divisional opponents, but there are still 65 of those contests left. The Indians success this season will be strongly based off how they play against the Royals, Tigers, Twins and White Sox. So far so good for the Tribe.
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