Cleveland Indians vs Houston Astros: 5 bold predictions for 2018 ALDS

3. Hand will be Tito’s go to guy

The Cleveland Indians enter the bullpen with some star power behind their three-head closer in the form of Brad Hand, Cody Allen and Andrew Miller.

But there are huge question marks as to whether each one of these tentacles will be effective as the other.

My guess is that Brad Hand is the pitcher who has Tito’s trust. With the Indians playing for nothing in September, Hand had his worst month, taking a loss while posting a 3.60 ERA. He still had 17 strikeouts in 10 innings of work.

Allen looked awful in his final tuneups of the regular season, allowing five hits and six earned runs to the lowly Royals.

Andrew Miller was far from peak Andrew Miller in September, as well. Returning from a shoulder injury, Miller posted a 5.79 ERA in baseball’s final month. Like Allen, he had a forgettable final outing, allowing four runs to the Royals.

Again, these games basically amounted to what we think of Spring Training: Perhaps Allen and Miller were just trying to get their work in and got shelled in the process.

Hand figures to get the ball, though, in the highest of leverage situations.