Yankees: 3 bad Indians stats that prove NYY is being underestimated

2. Rotation has almost no postseason experience

Indians starters Shane Bieber and Zach Plesac have never made a playoff start.

Shane Bieber (0 career playoff games), Zach Plesac (0 games) and Carlos Carrasco (2 games) will be the starters for the three-game Wild Card set. These are all tremendous arms, but the stakes are higher in October. Having next to no exposure to that kind of play can prove detrimental, even with the circumstances being different in 2020.

Yes, the Indians were second in all of MLB with a 3.29 ERA, but we just discussed how half of that sample size came against teams that fail to score a lot of runs. Tigers ranked 23rd in the league in that department, with the Royals at 24, and the Pirates dead last.

As for the bullpen, closer Brad Hand has just two postseason games under his belt and was shelled, allowing two earned runs on three hits and a walk in 1.2 innings in 2018 against the Houston Astros. (We know that’s not the rotation, but it further bolsters our case.)

All their former postseason arms are gone. No more Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer or Mike Clevinger. The faith has been placed in Bieber (we’ll see what he can do in his first career start). Carrasco has pitched in just 148 innings since the start of last year. And Plesac was at the forefront of the controversy in which he broke COVID-19 protocols and tried to hide it from the team.

We’re by no means saying this rotation is bad, but all of those factors could play a big role.