Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland Guardians Pick Center

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Chicago White Sox

+264

+1.5
(+137)

O 9
(+100)

Cleveland Guardians

-300

-1.5
(-157)

U 9
(-120)

MLB

FINAL (9/29/2017)

Indians still playing for top seed as Whte Sox visit 8h ago� 3 min read CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians had a 22-game winning streak. They won their division. They own 100 victories overall. But they are not done yet."We need to keep winning, because Houston is," Cleveland manager Terry Francona said.The Indians will host the Chicago White Sox on Friday night in the first game of a regular-season-ending, three-game series. The Indians (100-59) are trying to hold off Houston (99-60) for the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs.Cleveland won the season series between the teams 5-1, so the Indians have the tiebreaker, meaning Houston would have to finish with one more win than Cleveland to claim the No. 1 seed.On Thursday, the Indians reached the 100-win mark for just the third time in franchise history, beating the Minnesota Twins 5-2."It's cool," Francona said. "It's meaningful, but hopefully we've got a lot more baseball ahead of us." The three games with the White Sox present Francona with additional opportunities to gauge Jason Kipnis' attempt to transition from second base to center field.Kipnis is trying to show he can handle center field in place of rookie Bradley Zimmer, who is not expected to play again this year due to a broken left hand. Kipnis returned to action Sept. 17 after missing a month due to a strained right hamstring."The more at-bats he gets, the closer he gets to being himself," Francona said of Kipnis. "And the more he plays center field, the more comfortable he gets." The White Sox, meanwhile, are concluding the first full season of their rebuild. They are 66-93, in fourth place in the AL Central, 34 games behind Cleveland."It was a very difficult season, even though we knew before the season started that there would be some challenges during this season because of the process that we are beginning," Chicago first baseman Jose Abreu said. "But it was a very challenging season for us. It wasn't as we expected. We came every day to try to win games and to have a better record. We weren't able to do it, but I think we're on the right path." White Sox general manager Rick Hahn is pleased with the character shown by the team this year."You see them fighting for 27 outs, you see them prepared every night," Hahn said. "Sure, we're going to get outmanned at portions during this process, but the fight and competitiveness and the style of play is the kind of thing that is going to endure year in and year out." The Indians are 11-5 against the White Sox this year, but only 3-3 at Progressive Field.Cleveland's Trevor Bauer (16-9, 4.28 ERA) will make his final regular-season start on Friday. The right-hander is enjoying a career year, and he has been nearly unbeatable in the second half of the season. In his past 13 appearances, 12 starts and one relief appearance, he is 9-1 with a 2.69 ERA.Bauer has only faced the White Sox once this year, a 5-3 victory on Sept. 4. In that game, he pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on three hits with nine strikeouts and one walk. In 13 career appearances against Chicago, he is 5-2 with a 3.73 ERA.The White Sox will start right-hander Mike Pelfrey (3-11, 5.52 ERA). Pelfrey has made three appearances against the Indians this year and is 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA. His last start against Cleveland was an 11-3 loss on Sept. 7, in which he pitched four innings, giving up seven runs and eight hits.In 12 career appearances against the Indians, he is 2-4 with a 4.45 ERA.