Best of five
Indians 1, Red Sox 0

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I can take another game like Thursday’s. I know it was “only” the first game of a best-of-five series, but it felt like Game 7 of the World Series, and that was just from watching it on TV at home. I can only imagine what it must have felt like to have seen it in person, or to have played in the game itself.

Indians manager Terry Francona felt the urgency too, and treated the game as a must-win. He surely knew what ESPN’s David Schoenfield knew: historically, the team that wins Game 1 in a best-of-five series wins that series 70% of the time. And so Francona played to win, using his best relievers in ways which not all managers would have used them, sending Andrew Miller out in the fifth inning, and asking Bryan Shaw and closer Cody Allen to do more than get three outs each. Fortunately for Francona and the Tribe, that stratagem paid off. I wonder if Buck Showalter was watching.

Miller and Allen each threw 40 pitches, and Francona might not want to use them again today. Shaw, who threw 13 pitches, should be available. Francona is hoping that Corey Kluber, today’s starter, can go deep into the game. David Price (17-9, 3.99 ERA) will start for the Red Sox. Price, like Kluber, has a Cy Young award on his trophy shelf, so we could be looking at a good old-fashioned pitcher’s duel.

But then again, it could also be an 11-8 slugfest. That’s why they play the games! Either way, I hope my aging heart will be able to take it.

Today’s starting lineups:

 

Feel free to leave your comments below as you watch the game, and thanks as always for reading IPL!

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