Look Ahead At Indians/Reds Weekly Schedule

With opening day in the rearview mirror, both the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds are set to enter the first full week of regular season baseball starting Monday. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the week ahead for both of these teams.

Cleveland Indians

Monday: Home vs. Kansas City Royals, 4:10 pm E.T.

Tuesday: Off Day

Wednesday: Home vs. Kansas City Royals, 1:10 pm E.T.

Thursday: Off Day

Friday: Home vs. Detroit Tigers, 7:10 pm E.T.

Saturday: Home vs. Detroit Tigers, 6:10 pm E.T.

Sunday: Home vs. Detroit Tigers, 1:10 pm E.T.

After dropping the series against the Detroit Tigers, the Indians will get an opportunity to bounce back against division rivals as they will face the Kansas City Royals and will get another chance against the Tigers as they host them at Progressive Field. The Indians are currently +750 to win the A.L. Central, so they will try to get back on track with a strong week against division foes.

The matchup with the Royals is a two-game series, but the schedule is a little unique. Not only do the Indians get two off days this week, but their two-game set will be split with an off day on Tuesday. The Royals are currently +4000 to win the A.L. Central, with only the Tigers (+5500) having worse odds.

The pitching matchup is set for Monday’s game against Kansas City. It will be a battle of lefties as Danny Duffy will take the mound for the Royals against Cleveland’s Logan Allen. After earning a spot in the rotation, Allen will try to build off of a strong spring that included a 0.64 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 14 innings.

In Wednesday’s matchup, Brad Keller will return to the mound for the Royals after getting rocked in his first start. He currently sports a 40.50 ERA. Cleveland has still not announced their starting pitcher.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the Indians will host the Detroit Tigers. After losing the series to the Tigers to open the season, the Indians will look to repay the favor when they play host. To do so, the offense will definitely have to step up its game.

Cincinnati Reds

Monday: Home vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, 6:40 pm E.T.

Tuesday: Home vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, 6:40 pm E.T.

Wednesday: Home vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, 12:35 pm E.T.

Thursday: Off Day

Friday: @ Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 pm ET

Saturday: @ Arizona Diamondbacks, 8:10 pm ET

Sunday: @ Arizona Diamondbacks, 4:10 pm ET

The Cincinnati Reds showed quite a bit of fire in their first series of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite being given the third-best chances of winning the N.L. Central at +380, they showed they weren’t going to be pushed around as Nicholas Castellanos flexed on the Cardinals, leading to a scuffle between the two clubs on Saturday.

They will have the opportunity to continue to flex their muscles as they square off with two teams who don’t have high expectations this season. They will first host the Pirates Monday through Wednesday before traveling to Arizona over the weekend.

For the Pirates, they are +7500 to win the N.L. Central, by far the worst odds in the division. Still, the division rivals can’t be taken lightly.

The pitching matchups for the Pirates vs. Reds series look as follows:

Monday: JT Brubaker vs. Jose De Leon

Tuesday: Trevor Cahill vs. Wade Miley

Wednesday: Chad Kuhl (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Luis Castillo (0-1, 21.60 ERA)

Over the weekend, the Reds will travel to Chase Field to take on the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks lost their opening series against the Padres and are not expected to be overly successful this season. They are currently +7500 to win a loaded N.L. West and +13000 to win the World Series this season.

Overall Outlook

In all, this week gives the Indians and the Reds a chance to rack up some wins as they face off against two teams each that are not expected to do a whole lot this season. For the Indians, they will need the offense to start clicking while the Reds hope to get some sharper pitching. It is certainly possible that for this to be a great week for Ohio baseball.