Thursday night the League Division Series round of the postseason will continue at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox, two teams with some postseason history, will meet in Game 1 of the best-of-five ALDS on Thursday.
Both teams announced their roster prior to Game 1.
Cleveland Indians 25-man roster
Pitchers (11): Cody Allen, Cody Anderson, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, Corey Kluber, Jeff Manship, Andrew Miller, Dan Otero, Bryan Shaw, Josh Tomlin
Catchers (3): Chris Gimenez, Yan Gomes, Roberto Perez
Infielders (6): Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor, Michael Martinez, Mike Napoli, Jose Ramirez, Carlos Santana
Outfielders (5): Lonnie Chisenhall, Coco Crisp, Rajai Davis, Brandon Guyer, Tyler Naquin
Notable omission: right-hander Danny Salazar. He was the club's best starting pitcher in the first half, but on-and-off arm injuries have hampered him since the All-Star break. Salazar is currently working his way back from a forearm issue and the Indians hoped he would be able to make the ALDS roster as a reliever, but no luck.
Tomlin is lined up to start Game 3 at the moment, but the Indians may have to get creative with that spot. The Salazar and Carlos Carrasco injuries robbed them of some important rotation depth. You could see Tomlin and Clevinger tag-team Game 3 -- each guy goes three innings or so -- with Bauer coming back on short rest to start a potential Game 4.
Boston Red Sox 25-man roster
Pitchers (11): Matt Barnes, Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly, Craig Kimbrel, David Price, Drew Pomeranz, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, Robbie Ross Jr., Koji Uehara, Brad Ziegler
Catchers (2): Sandy Leon, Christian Vazquez
Infielders (7): Xander Bogaerts, Marco Hernandez, Aaron Hill, Brock Holt, Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, Travis Shaw
Outfielders (4): Jackie Bradley Jr., Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts, Chris Young
Designated Hitters (1): David Ortiz
No surprises here. Junichi Tazawa, who started the season as one of the Red Sox's top setup men, pitched his way off the roster. Vazquez beat out Ryan Hanigan and Bryan Holaday for the backup catcher's job, and Barnes beat out Heath Hembree for a bullpen spot. Otherwise everything is as expected.
Buchholz told reporters earlier this week that he will start Game 3 behind Price and Porcello. That leaves Rodriguez as the obvious candidate to start Game 4, though bringing Porcello back on short rest would be an option. Pomeranz will be in the bullpen this series and figures to serve as manager John Farrell's go-to left-on-left matchup guy.
