CLEVELAND _ It was a fairly safe bet the Indians would take care of business in the regular season, win their division and have a chance to start another playoff run in an American League Division Series.
But that it'd come with Jason Kipnis as the staring center fielder for Game 1?
Those odds would have made you a pretty penny.
But, as the Indians prepare to take on the New York Yankees in Game 1 Thursday night at Progressive Field, Kipnis will trot out to center field, a position he's played 11 times since 2009.
He's held own thus far, at least being able to track fly balls and make the routine plays. His arm might not be an asset in center, but the experiment hasn't been a disaster, either. Kipnis has also been hitting, posting a .797 OPS in September, which gives the move validity to keep his bat in the lineup.
Kipnis in center field has to be considered one of the things to watch in the series. He won't likely win any Gold Gloves. But he knows he doesn't have to _ the less noticeable he is out there, for the Indians, the better. And the Indians are also carrying Greg Allen, who could enter late in games as a more polished defensive center fielder if needed.
"It's still difficult," Kipnis said. "Anytime you gotta switch positions, it takes time. It's not like I had spring training to work on it in a bunch of games there. It was literally, take three BPs live off the bat, track balls and then you got about 10 days to get ready for the playoffs.
"So I'm still learning on the run. ... They've even told me I'm not expected to go out there and give Gold Glove defense. I'm expected to go run, catch the ball and get it in as fast as I can. We know with this staff and our offense that that's really my job at this point, to go and play _ baseball instincts will take over _ and to play as good of defense as I can."
Indians manager Terry Francona said this week that if anything goes wrong, he'll take the blame for it, as he's just appreciated that Kipnis was willing to switch positions in order to keep the Indians infield intact while it was playing so well.
It's gone well thus far, and now the real test begins.
