The Cleveland Indians (81-68) have a chance to shock the baseball world as the 2013 regular season winds down and earn themselves a wildcard berth in the American League playoffs. They are 1.5 games behind the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays, and will open up a big series against the division rival Kansas City Royals at 8:10 tonight in Kauffman Stadium. Live stream the game here; Indians fans can listen to the action on WTAM 1100, while Royals fans can hear the game on KCSP 610.
The Indians are a team no one expected to be in this position, but have reeled off a 7-1 record in their last eight games to prove they're for real. First baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher spoke about this team's resilience, telling media "The way things are kind of going down the stretch, you've got to step your game up in situations like this. Seasons like this don't come around very often. We have a chance to make it into the playoffs and that's what we're doing."
The Royals themselves are not completely out of the playoff picture, sitting 3.5 games out of the second spot. James Shields (11-9, 3.38 ERA), tonight's starter, described the feeling in Kansas City as the Royals make their push.
"The excitement is there," Shields told the team's official website. "We're exactly where we wanted to be at the end of the season. We would like to have the lead in the division, but it is what it is. We're here now, and we're playing and we're fighting for a playoff spot."
Shields will need to be wary of Swisher tonight, who is red-hot. He homered as a lefty and a righty on Sunday for the 13th time in his career, tying an MLB record. "It's pretty cool having a major league record for something," Swisher said. "I don't care what it's for. Just to have that especially to share that with my boy Mark Teixeira who I love dearly, it's just crazy."
He will be opposed by Scott Kazmir (8-8, 4.24 ERA), whose contribution to any team, let alone a playoff contender is a shocker worthy of this group.
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