The Cleveland Indians have stuck around in the American League wild-card race predominately because of the efforts of staff ace Corey Kluber. The 28-year old has evolved into one of the league's premier pitchers and will challenge Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez for the American League Cy Young honors.
Kluber leads the majors, yes the majors in strikeouts fanning 258 batters by way of the whiff. The young hurler in his second full season in the majors boasts a 17-9 record with a tidy 2.53 earned run average notching 25 quality starts along the way.
In 13 of his 33 starts, Kluber has only surrendered a miniscule one-run or less. Adding to his dominance are another 9 starts where he has only permitted two-runs to cross the plate, good for 22 starts in which he has allowed two-runs or less.
The strikeout machine has also fanned 10 or more batters in 10 of his starts this season which also includes his two latest starts in which he struck-out 14 batters in consecutive outings.
The pride of the tribe leads the majors in pitching WAR with a wins above replacement of 7.0. Surprisingly even NL MVP hopeful Clayton Kershaw is behind Kluber in WAR and strikeouts.
The hurler has utilized a low-90's fastball mixed in with a cutter, curve-ball and change-up to dominant the opposition.
Kluber remains grounded with his focus on propelling the Indians into the playoffs. In a recent interview the hurler downplayed personal accomplishments stating: ''When the year's over that's the kind of stuff that you'll take a second to look at and appreciate, but the important thing right now is that we got the win."
Regardless of who is crowned the AL Cy Young winner, Kluber has put opposition batters on notice that he is going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.