The Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians are playing on the MLB schedule on Monday and the ESPN game will be live from Progressive Field at 7 pm ET and streaming from the WatchESPN website and comes as Corey Kluber and Drew Smyly will be on the mound for the AL Central matchup.
The Tigers come into the game first in the division after a nice start to the season and they are looking to keep things going on Monday night baseball against their division rivals. The Indians made the playoffs last season but have been off to a rough start and now they will get the chance to try and knockoff the division leaders. The series opens on Monday and the Tigers arrived late for the matchup, as their plane was stuck in Boston for an extra night and that meant the team had to arrive at the stadium at 4 pm for the game at 7 pm and they had to stay an extra night in Boston and the team was up until 4 am and seemed in good spirits despite the delays.
The Tigers don't have much to worry about right now in the division standings and they have played very well this season in the central, winning all but three of their 18 matchups with rivals. Miguel Cabrera has been on a tear since a slow start and the Tigers are just racking up wins, while the Indians have not been hitting this season and are really struggling with runners on base and manager Terry Francona said that the team is not pressing and are not worried about their four game losing streak. Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera have been both very hot as of late and the pitching for the Tigers has been great with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
The Tigers have lost only three of the last 18 games and Martinez is hitting over .360 during the stretch of the last eight games and the team is ranked in the top 10 in all major offensive categories. The team is ranked ninth in the league in runs scored this season and they are second in batting average and the team is also in the top five in on base and slugging percentage. The pitching ranks in the top 10 as well across the board and the team is fourth in ERA, eighth in quality starts and second in WHIP this season and they are shaping up to be one of the best in baseball and the top team in the American League.
Check here for the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians live coverage from ESPN.
