CLEVELAND _ The Indians continue to overcome the injuries and obstacles that have made their road through October tougher, and now sit four wins over the Toronto Blue Jays shy of their first trip to the World Series since 1997.
If the series between the Indians and Blue Jays in August is any indication, the ALCS should have plenty of fireworks. The Indians won two-of-three, all of which were one-run games. It included Jose Ramirez's go-ahead home run in the eighth inning on Aug. 21 and Tyler Naquin's walk-off inside-the-park-home-run two days earlier. It was among the wilder couple of days for the Indians this season, and it included a playoff-like atmosphere in part thanks to the scores of Blue Jays fans that made the trip to Progressive Field. On July 1 in Toronto, the Indians and Blue Jays needed 19 innings to settle the score, a 2-1 Indians win that set the franchise record for consecutive wins at 14. The Indians won four of the seven games during the regular season.
Now, the stakes are raised, and the Indians face a new challenge with their pitching situation in a seven-game series following the injuries to starters Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar.
