Inbox: Is Tribe’s postseason run in danger?

Do you think our postseason run is in danger if the Indians don’t step up the starting pitching? — Luke, Columbus, Ohio

In the wake of the injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the Indians are not the favorites to win it all next month. That said, Cleveland is closing in on a division title, and plenty of postseasons past have shown that October can be unpredictable and, on occasion, unexplainable.

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The Tribe’s rotation consists of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger. The Indians will use a patchwork approach for the fifth spot, which may not be required should the club punch its ticket to the postseason. It’s not an ideal situation, but it is also not an impossible one to overcome for Cleveland team that has overcome a lot this year.

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If the Indians reach the American League Division Series, there is a chance they will field a three-man rotation. That would, of course, require the Game 1 starter to come back on short rest in the event of a Game 4. After Carrasco was lost for the regular season with a non-displaced fracture in his pitching hand on Saturday, Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway hinted at the possibility of using Kluber or Bauer on three-days’ rest.

“The good thing is Kluber and Bauer can probably pitch every fourth day, or whenever you need them to,” Callaway said. “Bauer’s arm never hurts, and Kluber’s just a beast. That helps. But we’re going to prepare guys for the postseason, and if we get in, we’ll go from there.”

Back on Sept. 8, which was the day before Salazar left his last start with a right forearm injury that ended his regular season, Fangraphs.com’s projections gave the Indians a 13.3 percent chance of winning the World Series. As of Monday, those odds had dropped by roughly 30 percent to 9.3 percent. That is still the second-highest percentage in the AL (behind Boston’s 18.1 percent odds) and fifth among the contending teams.

Cleveland’s rotation is no longer set to feature one of the game’s elite trios, but teams have won without dominant staffs. Just last year, Kansas City won it all with a rotation that ranked 22nd in ERA, 21st in FIP and 23rd in fWAR in the regular season. Two years ago, Madison Bumgarner hoisted the Giants on his back. Over the past 15 years, the average ranks in …

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