Cleveland @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 7, 2011 ) Detroit 8, Cleveland 6

THE STORY: A season that began in such promising fashion for the Cleveland Indians will end this week with no playoff spot to be had. Instead, the Indians will try to assure themselves their first winning season since 2007. The Detroit Tigers, like the rest of the American League Central, were staring up at the Indians for the first month and a half before turning it on in August and running away with the division. The Tigers will be looking to secure homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs when they open a three-game set against Cleveland at Comerica Park on Monday night.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, STO (Cleveland), FSD (Detroit)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Ubaldo Jimenez (10-12, 4.52 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Doug Fister (10-13, 2.94 ERA)

Jimenez had a string of five straight quality starts broken Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox, when he was reached for four runs in seven innings to suffer a loss. The Dominican righthander hasn’t been everything for which Cleveland had hoped when they traded for him prior to the deadline, but he has limited opponents to a .201 average over his last six starts and appears to be settling in. Jimenez has already faced Detroit four times this season, going 2-2 with a 4.38 ERA.

Fister has been the best of the players moved at the deadline, posting a 7-1 record with a 2.02 ERA in 10 games since joining the Tigers. The 27-year-old has not allowed more than one earned run in any of his last seven appearances, including a three-inning relief stint Wednesday that put him in line to start the second game of the playoffs. Fister has gone up against the Indians five times this season, posting a 2-1 record with a 2.03 ERA.

ABOUT THE INDIANS (80-79): Cleveland will need to win the three-game series in order to secure that winning record. After starting out 30-15 and looking like they would run away with the Central, the Indians fell back to the pack rather heavily over the last four and a half months, alternating between starting pitching woes and injuries to the offense. Still, few expected this team to finish above .500 or challenge for a playoff spot into September. Cleveland is coming off a series win over the lowly Minnesota Twins, missing out on a four-game sweep when it suffered a 6-4 loss in 10 innings Sunday. The Indians have been strong on offense lately, averaging 7.2 runs over their last five games.

ABOUT THE TIGERS (92-67): Detroit has one thing left for which to fight, and that’s the right to start and potentially end the division series at Comerica Park. The Tigers are one game behind the Texas Rangers (93-66) for that No. 2 spot. The winner of that spot will face the wild-card winner at home for the first two games instead of beginning the playoffs against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Detroit split a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend, winning the finale, 10-6, behind three-run homers from Victor Martinez and Don Kelly and a two-run blast from Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera (.341) is in position to win the AL batting title.

FINAL PITCH: The Indians are shutting down some of their injured players. Asdrubal Cabrera took a pitch off the right elbow Friday and was removed from the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader with pain. Grady Sizemore has been shut down as a precautionary measure, and Trevor Crowe will not play again after suffering a shoulder strain Saturday.