Indians Dominance Over Tigers Helped Win AL Central Title

The two straight losses the past two nights are not representative of the dominance the Cleveland Indians had this season over their American League Central rivals the Detroit Tigers.

Even though the Indians have lost two straight with few every-day players in their lineup, Cleveland holds a 14-4 advantage for the season over the Tigers.

Regardless of what team wins the final game on Thursday between the two teams, Cleveland will end its season with their best season series record against Detroit in over 16 seasons.

In the 18 games the two have played head to head, Cleveland holds a 106-71 scoring advantage, and that was skewed by Detroit’s win Tuesday of 12-0. In the majority of stats, the Indians have had the best American League offense when they play the Tigers.

The Indians have a batting average of .284, a slugging percentage of .474 and an OPS of .828, against the Tigers, which are all in the top three amongst the AL opponents of the Tigers.

Conversely, Detroit cannot hit Cleveland pitching this season. Detroit’s OPS is .669 against Cleveland, which is its worst versus any opponent in the AL. The .229 batting average of Detroit against Cleveland is its second worst against any other teams in the AL.

Michael Fulmer and Justin Verlander are easily two of the best pitchers for the Tigers this season. However, the Indians did not treat them with much respect.

Cleveland faced Verlander on five occasions. He started the 12-0 win on Tuesday for the Tigers, but in the four other starts he has had against the Indians this season, Detroit scored a combined seven runs.

Cleveland also hit Verlander for his two worst starts this season, games they hit him for seven and eight runs.

Fulmer’s ERA this season in four starts versus Cleveland is 6.98, while against the rest of baseball it is 2.51. Two of his five worst and 3 of his 10 worst starts came against Cleveland.

The dominance the Indians hold over Detroit this season is not attributable to its winning streak of 14 games during June. Of those 14 wins, during the streak, just three were versus Detroit.

In other words, Cleveland regardless of how it was playing prior to facing Detroit has always had far better results against them than any other opponent.

If Detroit makes the playoffs, it will be interesting to see if the two teams meet in the postseason and if the dominance continues.