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The Cleveland Indians have a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series, so there’s nothing at all for Terry Francona and his team to be worried about, right?

To borrow a phrase from ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso, not so fast, my friend.

The Indians have a couple of issues after losing their first game of the postseason Tuesday against the Blue Jays.

They sent ace Corey Kluber to the mound with the hope of closing out the Blue Jays in four games. However, Toronto got the jump on Cleveland when third baseman Josh Donaldson launched a third-inning pitch from Kluber over the left field fence, giving the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead.

That was the first time the Blue Jays had the lead in the series, and it was the first time the Indians had trailed in the playoffs since the early innings of Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox.

The Blue Jays added a run to make it 2-0, and after the Indians cut it to 2-1, the Blue Jays regained full control when Edwin Encarnacion hit a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning to extend the advantage to 4-1.

While Kluber had a human effort and gave up a few runs in the playoffs for the first time in three starts, hard-throwing Aaron Sanchez was sharp for the Blue Jays. He gave up just one run on two hits in six innings.

It still looks like the Blue Jays have a big hill to climb, but the confidence level of John Gibbons’ team should be much higher as a result of the Game 4 win. The Blue Jays appear to have a major advantage in Game 5, as they’ll send Marco Estrada to the mound against Cleveland rookie left-hander Ryan Merritt.

Injuries to the Cleveland pitching staff have put the Indians in a precarious position for fielding starting pitchers.

Kluber is a stud, and Josh Tomlin has also pitched well in the postseason after an up-and-down regular season. But Francona has little to choose from aside from those two. Trevor Bauer has his infamous bloody pinkie finger that forced him to be pulled in the first inning of Game 3. Additionally, starters Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar are both injured. 

That’s why Merritt will get the ball in Game 5. If you don’t know much about him, don’t feel bad. When Gibbons was asked what he knew about Merritt, his response was that he knew he was left-handed, according to Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer.

Merritt pitched 11 innings for the Tribe this season after spending the season at Triple-A Columbus. He gave up six hits and two earned runs in his limited time on the mound, but that’s not much of a sample size.

In addition to their injured starters, the Indians are not hammering the baseball at this point. They have scored nine runs in four games, and if they can’t significantly improve their production in Game 5, they are going to have a difficult time closing out the Jays.

Nevertheless, Cleveland catcher Roberto Perez said his team is not worried. “No one is panicking,” Perez told Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. “They’re a good team. We’re going to show up and play like we always do.”

The Blue Jays are down 3-1 and still have a long way to go. However, they just beat Kluber and have a pulse. If they were able to take care of the Indians’ ace, it seems they should be able to handle a pitcher who does not appear to be ready for prime time.

Keys for Cleveland

Get the bats going. While the story going into Game 4 was the Blue Jays’ inability to get their offense on track, that narrative is changing. The Indians have not scored a run from the seventh inning on in the postseason, and they are struggling to put enough runs on the board.

The Indians would like to get a solid five or six innings out of Merritt, but that may be unrealistic. Francona has been successful to this point in the postseason because the bullpen has been so effective. If the Indians are going to find a way to win this game, they’ll need to get another stellar performance from their bullpen.

If the Indians can get three good innings from Merritt, the bullpen may have to take over from that point. It is essential than Andrew Miller and Co. have a dominant game here.

Keys for Toronto

Jump on top early in this game. The Blue Jays appear to have a huge edge in the starting pitcher matchup, and the sooner they get the lead, the more pressure they can put on the Indians.

Donaldson and Encarnacion are starting to hit, and they have to continue to pound the baseball. If Gibbons can get something out of Troy Tulowitzki and Jose Bautista, they’ll have a chance to register a knockout in this game.

Estrada pitched very well in Game 1, but he got beat when he gave up a two-run homer to Lindor. If he can hold the Indians to two runs here, the Blue Jays should be able to find a way to send the series back to Cleveland.

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Chicago Cubs fans might want to issue an APB on the team’s offense. Chicago was shut out for the second straight game in a 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night, the first time that’s happened since May 2014.

It has left serious doubts as to whether this team will be able to even the National League Championship Series at two games after Wednesday’s Game 4.

It is, however, entirely possible. The talent exists on the roster of MLB’s best team this regular season. Care to see how it has to go about it?

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For all those hooked on the Arizona Fall League baseball during the ALCS and NLCS, you can rejoice in knowing that New York Mets prospect Tim Tebow‘s drought is over. 

On Tuesday, Tebow recorded a single against Chicago Cubs prospect Duane Underwood to break an 0-for-13 hitless streak to start off his professional baseball career.

The Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Florida and former Denver Broncos and New York Jets quarterback signed a minor league deal with the Mets on Sept. 9. 

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson explained what he saw in Tebow after his showcase in August, via Adam Rubin of ESPN.com:

Any player evaluation starts with tools. From that standpoint, without grading everything out, suffice it to say Tim has been a great athlete. He has demonstrated more than rudimentary baseball skills. We think, with his commitment to success, that this is an opportunity that is worthwhile.

In terms of power, in terms of arm, in terms of foot speed, all of those things, we think he can be a baseball player. I think that is underscored by his competitiveness and his determination to succeed and to improve. From our standpoint, this is another opportunity for us to develop a player and see where it goes. We understand most players don’t make it to the major leagues.

Having not played organized baseball since his junior year of high school, Tebow originally reported to the Mets’ instructional league where he started things off with a bang in his first at-bat.

While he hasn’t found that kind of success at the plate in the Arizona Fall League, Tebow has been making plenty of headlines. 

In his AFL debut alone, he face-planted into the outfield wall and helped a seizure victim after the game, via ABC News:

Tebow isn’t expected to see time in the major leagues. At 29 years old, it’s unlikely he’ll develop his game up toward a level that can see him attain success professionally. 

But for now, he is putting fans in the seats, bringing attention to the Arizona Fall League and pursuing his dream of playing professional baseball. 

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The Toronto Blue Jays are trying to go where only one team has gone before. They took an important first step in Game 4 on Tuesday.

Facing a 3-0 deficit to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series, Toronto played its second win-or-go-home game this month. It had the same happy ending as the AL Wild Card Game. The Blue Jays walked away with a 5-1 win, earning the right to play another day.

And now for some obligatory words of caution.

The Blue Jays are still three wins short of joining the 2004 Boston Red Sox as the only teams to ever come back from a 3-0 hole in a best-of-seven MLB series. And while winning four in a row is something they did seven times in the regular season, losing four in a row is something the Indians did zero times.

But there aren’t many other words of caution worth diving into following Toronto’s entry into the W column in this series. A 3-1 deficit is less daunting than a 3-0 deficit, and the Blue Jays looked the part of a team coming alive in Game 4.

Nobody deserves more credit than Aaron Sanchez and Josh Donaldson. Sanchez limited Cleveland to two hits and one run in six innings. Donaldson set the tone early when he put the Blue Jays up 1-0 with a solo homer off Corey Kluber in the third inning:

Donaldson was also heard from on defense in the fifth, making a diving snag and throwing to first to rob Carlos Santana of a single that likely would have tied the score at 2-2. This was the reigning AL MVP putting his money where his mouth is.

“I let the boys know I was coming to play today,” Donaldson told Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet Magazine, recounting what he said at a team meeting before Game 4.

He wasn’t alone. The Blue Jays collected nine hits en route to their five runs in Game 4. Edwin Encarnacion got the other big hit, scoring a pair on a bases-loaded single in the seventh following an intentional walk to Donaldson—highlighted by CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson as Cleveland manager Terry Francona’s first misstep this October.

Although it wasn’t an offensive explosion reminiscent of the hurtings the Blue Jays put on the Texas Rangers in sweeping the ALDS, Toronto’s offensive output in Game 4 is a start for this series. The Blue Jays scored only three runs in the first three games, hitting just .177 as a team.

There’s a disembodied voice saying “Well, actually” and pointing out that the Blue Jays got five of their hits and three of their runs off three Cleveland relievers not named Andrew Miller or Cody Allen. The Blue Jays earned the chance to do that, though. Making his first-ever start on three days’ rest, a not-too-sharp Kluber was worked for 89 pitches in five innings. 

And now, Toronto’s passing of the Kluber test has ramifications beyond just Game 4.

It was easy to think along with Francona when he decided to start Kluber on short rest. It was either go for the kill or roll the dice on an anonymous left-hander named Ryan Merritt. Easy call there.

But since it backfired, Francona now has no choice but to trust Merritt, who has all of one major league start to his name, to perform well enough in Game 5 on Wednesday to prevent a 3-2 series. The Blue Jays are already champing at the bit.

“With our experience in our lineup, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be shaking in his boots more than we are,” said Jose Bautista of Merritt, via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca.

If the Blue Jays do what they should against Merritt in Game 5, they’ll get Josh Tomlin in Game 6. He’s more of a challenge, but the Blue Jays could be optimistic about exploiting his chronic homeritis the second time around after failing to do so in Game 2.

If this series goes to a Game 7, Kluber would have to start on three days’ rest once again. He wasn’t especially sharp in one start on three days’ rest. He probably wouldn’t be any sharper in a second straight start on three days’ rest.

It’s not an ideal outlook for Francona, but he has no choice. Trevor Bauer was supposed to be a big part of the team’s plans for this series. His drone mishap put that on thin ice, and that thin ice broke open the same time his stitches did in the first inning of Game 3.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are sitting pretty with a rotation loaded with able bodies and healthy fingers. Sanchez did his part by silencing Cleveland hitters in Game 4, and now things are flipped back over for Marco Estrada in Game 5 and, if necessary, J.A. Happ in Game 6 and Marcus Stroman in Game 7. 

Asking the Blue Jays to get it done with offense and starting pitching isn’t asking too much. It’s how they won games all season. And if Game 4 was a wake-up call for the Blue Jays offense in particular, it will be difficult for an Indians team that hasn’t been tearing the cover off the ball and is now light on pitching to close out this series. 

There should be no mistaking that the odds are still against the Blue Jays. We know where history stands on them completing a 3-0 comeback. The digital bean-counters aren’t more optimistic. According to FanGraphs, Toronto has just a 7.2 percent chance of winning the ALCS.

But if Game 4 did anything, it turned a fool’s hope into a fighting chance. Now all the Blue Jays must do is abide by the words veteran reliever Jason Grilli shared with Nicholson-Smith.

“If we’re in this position we may as well make history.”

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have taken control of the National League Championship Series, seizing a 2-1 lead after blanking the Chicago Cubs 6-0 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers spread 10 hits and scored in four different innings, getting a two-run home run from Yasmani Grandal in the fourth inning and a solo shot from Justin Turner in the sixth. Grandal had three RBI while Corey Seager and Joc Pederson also had run-scoring hits for Los Angeles, which has won two straight after losing the opener 8-3.

Rich Hill held the Cubs to two hits over six innings, with Chicago managing only four hits in getting shut out for a second consecutive game. Chicago starter Jake Arrieta was chased after allowing four runs in five-plus in his first start in Dodger Stadium since his 2015 no-hitter.

Game 4 is set for 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, with the Cubs sending John Lackey against Los Angeles’ Julio Urias.

Scroll down for all of our updates, analysis, statistics, pitchers, tweets and anything else worth noting from L.A.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.

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The MLB season continues on Tuesday, with both the NLCS and ALCS featuring crucial games for different reasons. In the NLCS, both teams will be looking to take control of the series. In the ALCS, things might come to a close on Tuesday.

Below, we’ll break down the remaining schedules of the series, all of the viewing information and preview the contests on tap.

It’s all up for grabs between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the series tied at one game apiece and shifting to Los Angeles for the next three contests. 

The Cubs will be pleased to avoid Clayton Kershaw in those contests (though he likely would make an appearance in Game 5 if the Dodgers drop the next two contests and find themselves facing elimination). After all, the Dodgers are 4-0 in games Kershaw has pitched in this postseason and 0-3 in games where he hasn’t made an appearance.

A lot of talk surrounding the Cubs has been based on the pressure they face as they try to end the organization’s long championship drought, but the Dodgers are under immense pressure against a loaded Cubs lineup, too. Yes, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist and Addison Russell have struggled. But Javier Baez and Kris Bryant have carried the Cubs in their stead, and it’s hard to imagine the team’s bats staying quiet for long.

“We haven’t hit to our capabilities,” manager Joe Maddon told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. “However, we won a series against a really good October-tested team, and now we’re 1-1 against a very good team coming back here. So you try to balance it out.”

Maddon added:

There’s only so much you can possibly do when it comes to manipulating your lineup. These are the guys that got you here. These are your guys. We’ve got a bunch of All-Stars out there. When you get to this point, you’ve got five games left to really make it right as opposed to 75 to make it right. There is a difference with that. There are certain things you’d do in the middle of the season in order to move something along, just not during the playoffs.

With neither team hitting particularly well, Game 3 should feature a doozy of a pitching duel between Chicago’s Jake Arrieta and L.A.’s Rich Hill. And Tuesday’s game is pivotal. Win, and the Cubs will guarantee the series returns to Chicago (unless they win all three games in Los Angeles, that is). Lose, and the possibility remains that the Dodgers could end the series at home. 

A lot is on the line Tuesday night. The Cubs will be glad Kershaw doesn’t have a say in the matter.

While everything is up for grabs between the Cubs and Dodgers, Cleveland appears to have things wrapped up in the ALCS. The team took a 3-0 lead on Monday night and is now a perfect 6-0 this postseason, continuing a dominant run despite having to overcome a number of injuries late in the season. 

What has been even more impressive against the Blue Jays, however, has been how dominant Cleveland’s pitching has been. Against a Toronto offense that finished third in the American League in home runs and fifth in runs this season, Cleveland has given up just three total runs in three games.

That’s in contrast to the 22 runs and eight home runs the Blue Jays hit in three games against the Texas Rangers in the ALDS.

The trio of Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki are a combined 4-for-31 in the series and haven’t managed to score a run or produce an RBI. And now the team’s struggling offense now has to face Cleveland ace Corey Kluber in Game 4.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Toronto manager John Gibbons told Ian Harrison of the Associated Press (via CBC Sports). “That’s an understatement.”

Outfielder Kevin Pillar added: “It’s obviously tough. We got some big hits in the wild-card game and that kind of carried over to the Texas series. It’s that simple. We just haven’t been able to execute when we need it.”

They’ll need to execute to stay alive in Game 4, and they’ll need starter Aaron Sanchez to do better in his second postseason start after he gave up six runs in 5.2 innings against the Rangers on Oct. 9. 

The Blue Jays are running on fumes at this point. But given their loaded and dangerous lineup, they are still capable of slugging their way back into this series. They’ll have to wake up against Kluber, however, who has struck out 13 batters and hasn’t given up a run in 13.1 postseason innings.

So yes, things look bleak for the Blue Jays. 

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

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The Toronto Blue Jays got just what they needed against the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday, finding a way to remain alive in the American League Championship Series.

The Blue Jays took the lead for the first time in any game in the series when Josh Donaldson launched a home run off Corey Kluber in the third inning, and the Jays did a good job of building on that lead.

Edwin Encarnacion had a two-run single in the seventh inning to help Toronto pull away.

The Jays also got excellent pitching from starter Aaron Sanchez and their bullpen to emerge with a 5-1 win at the Rogers Centre.

The Indians still lead the series 3-1.

Sanchez was credited with the victory, as he gave up just one run on two hits and two walks in six innings. Kluber took the loss after surrendering two runs on four hits and two walks in five innings of work.

Game 5 will be played at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday afternoon, pitting Cleveland’s Ryan Merritt against Marco Estrada.

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With the Los Angeles Dodgers dropping Game 1 of the National League Championship Series and staring at a 2-0 deficit, they put all their faith in Clayton Kershaw. Once again, the best pitcher in baseball rewarded that faith.

Kershaw threw seven scoreless innings and Kenley Jansen closed out the final two as the Dodgers earned a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. It’s the third time Kershaw pitched in the span of six days, including his save in Game 5 of the National League Division Series on one day’s rest.

“It should surprise me what he’s doing,” Dodgers president Andrew Friedman told USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale, “but being around him, the way he prepares, how he competes, it really doesn’t surprise me. It almost feels like I’m being too flippant about it, but I just know him well enough not to be surprised about it.”

The Dodgers, thanks to Kershaw, have overtaken home-field advantage.

Their odds of keeping it heading into Game 3? Not so great.

Taking the mound for the Cubs is ace Jake Arrieta, perhaps Kershaw‘s only near-equal over the last three seasons among NL pitchers. Arrieta, like Kershaw, had his issues during the regular season. While the Dodgers ace struggled with injuries, Arrieta saw his performance go from unhittable in the first two months to merely good over the last four.

He finished 18-8 with a 3.10 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. That’s an increase of nearly a run-and-a-half over the course of nine innings and an extra 0.22 batters getting on base per inning from his Cy Young 2015. FanGraphs‘ WAR formula tabulated Arrieta‘s at 3.8 for 2016—almost a decrease of half from last season.

“I think last year is indicative of what Jake is all about,” manager Joe Maddon told reporters. “This season everybody has been over-scrutinizing him based on what he had done last year. He had a great season. It’s not maybe as great as last year was, but it’s hard to replicate that.”

Arrieta gave up two runs over six solid innings of work in his NLDS start against the San Francisco Giants. It was the only game Chicago lost in the series, though Arrieta took a no-decision.

The Dodgers will start Rich Hill, himself dealing with a fair share of frustration over the second half of the season. An early Cy Young contender after breaking out with the Oakland Athletics, Hill’s midseason acquisition did not turn out to be a home run for the Dodgers. The lefty spent more of his time limited by a recurring blister on his throwing hand, which put him on the shelf at times and forced him out of starts early in others.

Hill had two starts in the NLDS against the Washington Nationals, neither of which were entirely successful. He took the loss in Game 2 after giving up four runs in 4.1 innings and then threw 2.2 innings while pitching on short rest in Game 5. While he only allowed one run, Washington got five runners on base.

“You’ve been working days, weeks, months, years, decades,” Hill told reporters. “Everybody always says, ‘This is what you play for. This is what you play for.’ It is. This is what you play for.”

The Cubs bats will be looking to enliven themselves after suffering their first shutout loss since an August matchup with these same Dodgers. Chicago has been shut out seven times in 2016, three of which came against Los Angeles. The young upstarts were only shut down twice in the second half, however, and pelted the Dodgers for eight runs in Game 1.

“We can win all of them,” Javier Baez told reporters. “We know we’re the best. We got the best team out there. (But) you got to play the game.”

Baez has been the star of the postseason for the Cubs, recording a base hit in every game while hitting .391/.417/.609. He and Kris Bryant have been doing the heavy work in the middle of the order while a majority of the roster has struggled.

Catcher David Ross had this to say about Baez, per Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News:

He’s probably the most exciting player in baseball right now. He’s energetic, he’s not scared of the moment. He stays true to who he is with baserunning and the flair he has. He doesn’t shy away from that in the big moment; it almost comes out more. His instincts, to steal home there, to come out and have the guts to do that, that should tell you a lot about Javy Baez. He’s a fearless individual and he’s very, very talented.

The underlying numbers say Baez could be in store for another big game. He hit .311 against lefties during the regular season, with his slugging percentage jumping more than 70 points. With Arrieta on the mound, all it could take is one big swing to have the Cubs back in command. 

Prediction: Cubs 4, Dodgers 2

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The Cleveland Indians continue to shock the baseball world. 

Even though starting pitcher Trevor Bauer had to come out of Game 3 with a bleeding pinkie finger in the first inning, the Cleveland Indians came through with a 4-2 win at the Rogers Centre, and they are on the verge of knocking out the Toronto Blue Jays and advancing to the World Series.

It was a surprise that the Indians beat the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series. Repeating the task in such a straightforward fashion against the Blue Jays is an even bigger shocker.

Bauer had cut his finger while repairing a drone that he owned, and his start was pushed back from Game 2 to Game 3. That change turned out to be ineffective, as Bauer’s injured finger started bleeding almost immediately, and manager Terry Francona had to remove him after two outs.

Rules prevented the pitcher from putting anything like a bandage on the injury, which forced the Indians to make it a bullpen game.

That should have helped the Blue Jays, but the Indians led 1-0 and 2-1 before finally taking the 4-2 lead that would serve as the final score. The Indians got home runs from Mike Napoli (who also had an RBI double) and Jason Kipnis, while Michael Saunders hit one for the Blue Jays.

Relievers Dan Otero, Jeff Manship, Zach McAllister and Bryan Shaw combined for 5.1 innings before Francona brought in closer Cody Allen and superb relief weapon Andrew Miller for the final three innings.

This time, Francona used Allen in the seventh and into the eighth, while Miller closed out the game by striking out three batters in 1.1 innings.

“That wasn’t the way we drew it up, but [our] bullpen—that’s one of the most amazing jobs I’ve ever seen,” Francona told reporters after the game (h/t Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com). “I mean starting with Otero to Manship to McAllister to Shaw. If anybody has a hiccup, we probably lose.”

The Indians will start Corey Kluber in Game 4 on Tuesday afternoon at 4:08 p.m. ET, and their ace will have a chance to complete the triumph and sweep the ALCS. Kluber has thrown 13.1 scoreless innings in the postseason and has a 2-0 record. He beat the Red Sox in Game 2 of the ALDS and the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the ALCS. 

He is starting on short rest for the first time in his career.

The Blue Jays have a formidable task in front of them, as they now must win four straight games if they are going to advance to the World Series. That’s a near-impossible task, as only the 2004 Boston Red Sox were (famously) able to climb out of such a hole in MLB history.

The Blue Jays will send Aaron Sanchez to the mound for his second career postseason start. He also started against the Texas Rangers in the ALDS and was not effective in that effort, giving up six earned runs on three hits and four walks.

Sanchez was 15-2 during the regular season with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.167 WHIP. He hopes to have a more even-keel performance against the Indians in this start.

“Hopefully just to keep my emotions in check,” Sanchez said, via CBSSports.com, of what his previous start taught him. “I’ve been there before, last year, but it was out of the ‘pen. The roles were a little bit different.”

Prediction

A Cleveland sweep certainly was an improbable result before the start of this series, but not any longer.

The Indians are sending their best starting pitcher to the mound at the Rogers Centre, and Kluber has shown he can make his best pitches in critical situations.

Sanchez is a talented pitcher, but he did not pitch well in his only postseason start. Combine that with the 0-3 hole and it seems unlikely the Blue Jays will solve Kluber and his remarkable bullpen.

Look for the Indians to win another low-scoring game and sweep the previously hard-hitting Jays out of the postseason.

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The Cleveland Indians are just one win away from the World Series after a dramatic victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the ALCS Monday night, while the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers are deadlocked in a tightly contested NLCS.

Cleveland’s advantage is far from insurmountable, especially after it was forced to lean heavily on its bullpen in Game 3, while Chicago still seemingly has the upper hand in the NLCS despite panic potentially starting to set in among fans due to Clayton Kershaw‘s sparkling performance for L.A. in Game 2.

As both series trend toward producing the two teams that will battle it out in the World Series, here is a look at the remaining league championship series schedule, the results thus far and predictions for how the series will play out.

LCS Schedule

ALCS Results and Predictions

The Tribe entered the ALCS down a pair of ace pitchers in Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, and things seemingly got even worse on the pitching front when Trevor Bauer severely cut his finger while repairing a drone ahead of his scheduled Game 2 start.

Josh Tomlin was moved up in the rotation, and Bauer was slated for Game 3, but the 25-year-old was forced to exit in the first inning Monday when the bleeding from his finger was too heavy to control.

That prompted manager Terry Francona to use seven pitchers, including Cody Allen and Andrew Miller sharing the final three innings in a 4-2 victory spurred by timely home runs from Mike Napoli and the previously slumping Jason Kipnis.

After sweeping through the ALDS and taking a 3-0 ALCS lead, the Indians are in some elite company over the course of MLB playoff history, according to ESPN:

Many have contributed to Cleveland’s remarkable run, but it is difficult to argue against the notion that Miller has been the team’s MVP.

Miller has allowed just four hits and two walks in nine postseason innings thus far to go along with a ridiculous 20 strikeouts.

Per SportsCenter, no pitcher in MLB history has racked up that many strikeouts in his first nine innings of a single postseason:

Miller has been so dominant, in fact, that Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy questioned why Blue Jays hitters are even making an effort when they step to the plate against him:

For as great as Miller has been whenever called upon, it is unclear how much he’ll be able to give the Indians Tuesday in Game 4 if needed.

Cleveland will start Corey Kluber in Game 4 on just three days of rest after he went 6.1 innings on Friday, allowing six hits, two walks and no runs in a Game 1 victory over Toronto.

It is unclear how much length Kluber will be able to give the Indians in Game 4, but legendary pitcher and TBS analyst Pedro Martinez believes he is in ideal position to potentially shut the door on the series:

The Blue Jays are capable of going on a big-time hot streak when their top hitters are in rhythm, and although that hasn’t happened yet in the ALCS, one big performance and one win could go a long way toward mounting a comeback.

Kluber is the only constant and certainty in the Indians rotation, though, and there is no better option to put on the mound in a potential series-clincher.

Because of that, look for Kluber to come through with another big outing to complete the sweep and send Cleveland to its first World Series since 1997.

NLCS Results and Predictions

Kershaw has long been criticized for a lack of dominance in the playoffs in comparison to his regular-season production, but he came through in a big way when needed in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Cubs.

With the Dodgers trailing 1-0 in the series, Kershaw gave them seven innings of two-hit, shutout ball in a 1-0 victory to even the series at 1-1.

The most remarkable aspect of his performance was that he racked up so many innings in the NLDS against the Washington Nationals as well, as pointed out by Jon Morosi of MLB Network:

Although Kershaw seems superhuman at times, he can’t pitch in every game for the Dodgers, and that means the Cubbies have the advantage any time he doesn’t.

Chicago has a strong staff with four starters who can toss a gem on any given day, and Jake Arrieta is chief among them.

Arrieta will pitch for the Cubs in Game 3 against the struggling Rich Hill, and he has given the Dodgers fits over the past couple of seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

Los Angeles has yet to finalize its NLCS rotation, but the Cubs will counter with veteran John Lackey in Game 4 and Game 1 starter Jon Lester once again in Game 5.

One can only assume Kershaw will get the ball in Game 5 if the Dodgers go down 3-1 in the series, but even if he manages to shut the Cubs down once again, that would leave L.A. at a major disadvantage in potential Game 6 and Game 7 clashes.

In addition to having the better all-around rotation, the Cubs also boast a better lineup from top to bottom, and they’ll be especially dangerous if Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell can shake off slumps and join Kris Bryant and Javier Baez in tearing the cover off the ball.

It was no accident that Chicago was far and away Major League Baseball’s best team during the regular season, and it will prove that in the NLCS by advancing to the World Series in six games.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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