With a division that featured three rebuilding teams and one mediocre Twins team coming into the season, the Indians were the huge favorites to win the AL Central this year which they did for a third consecutive year. The Indians won their division by a large margin as they are currently 15 games ahead of the Twins who were eliminated awhile ago. With sights now set on October, here's how the Tribe got there.

Superb rotation

When Mike Clevinger struck out Jackie Bradley Jr on Saturday, the Indians became the first team in MLB history to have four starters with at least 200+ strikeouts in a season.

Kluber has 205 strikeouts, Carrasco has 217, Bauer has 215 and Clevinger has 202. They all have chances to increase their strikeout numbers as they're all expected to make at least one more start before the season ends.

Kluber has been quietly one of the better pitchers this year with a 19-7 record and a 2.93 E.R.A. Despite those great stats, that would be considered a down season in Kluber standards as he has pitched better in previous years. Carrasco has gone 16-9 and Bauer has put up a Cy Young caliber season until a fibula injury forced him to miss a couple of starts. Bauer is 12-6 with a 2.21 E.R.A. and an opponent average of .207.

Potent top

The Indians lineup isn't the deepest but the top of their lineup is dangerous.

Lindor has been batting lead-off all year and has put up a .281/.355/.524 slash line with 36 home runs and 42 doubles. Lindor is also four hits shy of tying his career-high 182 hits. He has walked a career-high 67 times and has swiped a career-high 23 bags.

In his first full season since 2015, Brantley has been spectacular batting behind Lindor.

Brantley has gotten 171 hits and has only struck out 55 times. Ramirez has batted third most of the season and had an MVP caliber season until his dreadful performance in September. Ramirez has set career-highs in lots of categories which include OBP (.392), HR (38), RBI (103), BB (103) and SB (33).

In September, Ramirez has struggled to a .174/.341/.304 slash line with only one home run.

He will look to finish off strong in the last week of September and carry some momentum into the playoffs. Encarnacion has also done his part as the cleanup hitter by slugging 31 home runs with 100 RBIs.

After those four, the lineup drops off considerably but the Indians front office addressed that by adding Josh Donaldson at the waiver trade deadline.

As a team, the Indians have the fifth most home runs in the league with 207 home runs. They've also scored the third most runs with 779 and fourth most hits with 1369.

Improved bullpen

The Indians bullpen has been a strength for the past few seasons but this year it has been a huge weakness. Before the trade deadline, the Indians bullpen had the worst E.R.A.

among major league bullpens. Their two best relievers, Miller and Allen dealt with struggles and injuries which saw Miller spend lots of time on the disabled list this season.

At the deadline, the Indians went out and fixed their bullpen woes by acquiring Hand and Cimber from the Padres. Since the trade, Hand has eight saves with an opponent average of .196. Cimber has struggled mightily since coming to Cleveland by posting an ugly opponent average of .329 with a 4.42 E.R.A. He has also only whiffed seven batters in 18 1/3 innings pitched.
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