The Indians Starting Rotation is on Fire, Is it Enough to Get Them to the World Series?

The year was 1995, and the entire city of Cleveland had 'Indians fever' - the excitement was over a team that was clubbing their opposition to death with an

The year was 1995, and the entire city of Cleveland had 'Indians fever' - the excitement was over a team that was clubbing their opposition to death with an offense that was the best the city had ever seen.

Kenny Lofton, Eddie Murray, Paul Sorrento, Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Omar Vizquel, Sandy Alomar and on and on - players that at a moments notice could do damage to any pitcher in baseball.

Until the end of October.

That season the Indians met up with the Atlanta Braves in the World Series, a team that was the bridesmaid several times already, but that boasted one of the best, if not the best rotation in the Majors.

Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine - those three pitchers combined to 47-16 in the regular season, and they froze the Indians bats in winning the World Series four games to two.

Fast forward 23 years later, and now it's the Indians who are boasting number-wise the best rotation in baseball.

Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger, Trevor Bauer and rookie Shane Bieber have combined to go 58-27, and have a combined ERA of 3.18.

Even with Bauer on the 10-day DL, the Indians are a dangerous team when it comes to that rotation, and when things get tight in October, can this teams' rotation do enough to pull a repeat of the very team that beat them 23 years ago in 1995?

No doubt about it.

Heading into play Sunday, the teams starters over the last 25 games had a mark of 13-5 with a 2.55 ERA, putting up 9.8 strikeouts per game and a WHIP of 1.08.

They are on a roll.

Here's a look at what these guys have done in 2018, and a bit of a peek ahead at how they might perform in October when it's all on the line in the postseason.

1. Corey Kluber

Maybe the biggest worry about Corey Kluber is will he have a letdown like last season in the series against the Yankees.

In his two starts against New York, Kluber was nowhere near his normal self, leading to rumors of an injury or even fatigue that cost the team the deciding game five.

Lately Kluber has looked stronger as ever, he's 16-6 with a 2.74 ERA in 174.1 innings pitched. Make no mistake he's had his moments of bewilderment in 2018, with starts like June 15th against the Twins, June 26th against St.Louis, and July 23rd against the Pirates all coming to mind where he looked (dare say) normal.

On the flip side, two of those starts were before his injection in his knee that kept him out of the All-Star game, and the third was the start directly after the injection.

The Indians are hopeful that they will have a lot more of the 2016 postseason Kluber than the 2017 Kluber, and he will be the workhorse of the rotation as long as the team is in the playoffs.

2. Carlos Carrasco

The Indians starter that no one seems to talk about has quietly put together a dominant 2018, and he right now boasts a 15-6 mark with a 3.33 ERA.

He's lost one game since June 16th, and that took place on a night when there was a two-plus hour rain delay in which he gave up a three-run homer to Mitch Garver of the Twins in a 3-2 loss.

Other than that game, he's been stellar, going seven or more inning in 10 of his 24 starts thus far this season.

Consider this - Carrasco has allowed seven earned runs in his last eight starts - three of them on the one pitch to Garver in his loss on August 7th.

In four of those starts he's not allowed a run, and in two other of the starts he's allowed just one run. He might just be the key to how this postseason run goes for the Tribe.

3. Trevor Bauer

The concern about Bauer at the moment is the fracture that has him on the 10-Day DL, but will keep him out much longer (4-6 weeks), putting him likely out for pretty much the rest of the regular season.

Bauer was an All-Star, and his season was by far the best of his career, striking out 214 batters, and he was well on pace to throw the most innings in his career, as he was at 166 innings when the injury happened.

Now the biggest thing will be how quickly he will be able to heal, and how this injury might effect him as the team is counting on him to have an impact on the postseason.

If there's one player who is determined to get back to health quickly and be right back where he was when he got hurt, it's Bauer.

The team will be careful on how to proceed with Bauer, but the injury might be the biggest storyline over the last 406 weeks of the regular season.

4. Mike Clevinger

Despite going just 9-7, Clevinger's numbers deserve to be better, as he boasts a 3.25 ERA, and has allowed just 10 earned runs in his last six starts.

How the Indians handle him in the postseason will be interesting, as last year he was in the pen despite many fans believing that he should have started one of the games in the ALDS against the Yankees.

There's no question that he's earned his mark in 2018 as a force in the rotation, and he should get a start in the postseason if not more than one depending on how far the team advances.

In back-to-back starts against the Astros, a team that the Indians very well might wind up playing in October, he was 0-2 allowing eight earned runs in 11.2 innings. It was back in late May and it is a small sample size, but it's something to keep in mind.

5. Shane Bieber

The Tribe rookie has had an impressive start to his career, going 6-2 with a 4.37 ERA, and in his last three starts has allowed five runs in 16.1 innings.

He went through a lull where he scuffled in two starts before that, but appears to be back on track and will get more shots in the final six weeks to build on his already solid numbers.

While it's not set in stone by any means, it looks like he's going to be the long man out of the pen in the postseason, or possibly an emergency fill-in should something happen to one of the starters, which has happened in the past.

Bieber might be last year's version of Clevinger, a pitcher who has done enough to earn a start in the playoffs, but with the starer log jam might not have a chance until next season.