BOSTON -- There will be no shortage of storylines when the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians meet in the American League Division Series beginning Thursday.
The best-of-five matchup pits Indians manager Terry Francona against the team he led to two World Series titles in eight years and his good friend, Red Sox skipper John Farrell, who served as pitching coach under Francona in Boston and also spent several years as both a player and director of player development in Cleveland.
Where the series starts remains to be seen. The Red Sox own a half-game lead on the Indians after both teams won Friday night, and the Red Sox own the tiebreaker by virtue of claiming the season series 4-2. Cleveland has played one fewer contest and will play a makeup game in Detroit on Monday if the Tigers are still alive in the wild-card chase or if the battle between the Indians and Red Sox for home field remains uncertain.
When the dust settles, the time for analysis can begin.
"We kind of anticipated this might be the way it shakes out," Farrell said. "Obviously, a very good team. We'll have time to review them more in depth. We're looking forward to these final two games here."
Interestingly enough, the teams already endured some drama after a season-opening series in Cleveland was marred by nasty weather that forced two postponements.
"They've got a great team. We opened the year, we were in Cleveland for a week and with the weather we had to go back there," Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "We're pretty familiar with them. They have a great team so it's going to be tough."
"We gotta play well. They got a good ballclub," Boston designated hitter David Ortiz added. "You got in the playoffs, that means you did something special."
The Indians have been hit hard by injuries to their rotation. Ace Corey Kluber is sidelined because of a quadriceps strain, right-hander Danny Salazar will be available only out of the bullpen and Carlos Carrasco has been lost for the season.
The series will feature the top two offenses in the AL, although Boston has scored 106 more runs than Cleveland and it outhit the Indians .291 to .190 in the six matchups this season.
For those reasons, the Sox have reason to be confident, but they know their opponent is there for a reason.
"Is that what we're doing?" Jackie Bradley Jr. asked when told by a reporter that his team would be facing Cleveland. "For sure? 100 percent? OK, that'd be cool. Good ballclub. They wouldn't be where they are today if they weren't."