Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Game 1 on Friday night, and then vote for which team will win at the bottom of the page.What we learned in the Division SeriesIts not necessarily a surprise these two teams are here -- after all, they ranked 1-2 in the AL in rotation ERA in the regular season -- but it may be a bit surprising that both teams are here after sweeping their Division Series, with the Indians sweeping the Red Sox despite their depleted rotation. This series may come down to the bullpens: How effective will Torontos be, and how many innings will Terry Francona be able to get out of his top guys? -- David SchoenfieldInside the pitching matchupWhen Marco Estrada is on the mound: Estrada took a shutout into the ninth inning against the Rangers in the AL Division Series, expertly keeping the Rangers off balance with his upper-80s fastball and seemingly unhittable changeup, maybe the best in the game.He throws it at 75 to 78 mph, and Estrada has the ability to manipulate the changeup to both sides of the plate, so its moving away from lefties on the outside corner and also away from righties on the outside corner to them. Batters hit just .159 against it with a 32 percent strikeout rate. He mixes in a curveball and a cutter that he threw about 10 percent of time in the regular season but just twice against the Rangers.Estrada had the second-highest fly ball rate among qualified starters in the majors, so he doesnt give up a lot of hits (fly balls go for hits less often than grounders). The key to beating him is hoping a couple of those fly balls leave the park. That could play into Clevelands hands as the Indians crushed at Progessive Field, hitting .288/.359/.469 at home as opposed to .236/.300/.391 on the road. -- SchoenfieldWhen Corey Kluber is on the mound: Kluber left his final start of the regular season with a right quad strain but certainly looked at full strength against the Red Sox, throwing seven scoreless innings in Game 2. Hes starting Friday on six days rest.Klubers best pitch is one of the most dominant in baseball: A curveball (some call it a slider) that held batters to a .099 average and that recorded a strikeout rate of 52.8 percent. He buries it low and away from righties, and over the past three seasons batters have hit .106 against it with just five home runs. With two strikes, he throws the curveball about a third of the time, so batters cant just zero in on it. He also throws a fastball, a cutter and an occasional changeup.It will be interesting to see Klubers pitch selection against the right-handed heavy Toronto lineup. The Blue Jays hammered him in a July start, knocking him out in the fourth inning, when he threw a lot of fastballs and cutters. Facing them in August, he threw 40 percent fastballs and 40 percent curves, but also walked four batters in 6 2/3 innings.One thing to watch: Kluber has always pitched much better from the windup than with runners on base. The splits werent as drastic this year, but he held batters to a .587 OPS with nobody on versus .735 with runners in scoring position. Batters also hit .339 and slugged .578 when putting the first pitch in play, although the Red Sox swung at only three first pitches. -- SchoenfieldPlayer in the spotlightJosh Donaldson. The 2015 MVP ended the regular season in a slump as he played through a hip injury in September. He went 7-for-13 against the Rangers, including four doubles, played good defense, and made that mad dash home to secure the series. He may not be 100 percent, but in the ALDS he looked better than he had in weeks.?-- SchoenfieldWhat will decide Friday nights gameThe start could determine the end in this series. The Indians are 0-4 all-time in Game 1 of the ALCS. Theyre the only team to have played in multiple LCS without winning a Game 1 and are 2-2 in their four ALCS series.-- Sarah Langs, ESPN Stats & InfoDid You Know?Corey Kluber went heavy on his fastball in his first playoff start this year, throwing it 63 percent of the time, his third-highest rate this season (including the regular season). He had five Ks on the pitch, tied for his second-most this season. And he did it against the Red Sox, a team that had the best BA and second-best OPS on the pitch in the regular season.Can he quiet another fastball-hitting team? The Blue Jays hit fastballs for homers the second-most frequently of any team in the majors this season (trailing only the Orioles). Their 20.1 AB per homer on fastballs were second; by comparison, the Marlins had 44.5 AB per homer on fastballs.-- Sarah Langs, ESPN Stats & InfoALCS betting guideToronto Blue Jays (-145) vs. Cleveland Indians (+125) Joe Peta: The Boston Red Sox, without debate, have a better, younger and more potent lineup than the Blue Jays. The rotations, from 1-4, are very similar in their mediocrity, and given Torontos loss of Joaquin Benoit for the playoffs, Id give a mild bullpen edge to the Red Sox as well. Toronto has a much better defense, which makes its pitchers effective ERAs even better than their skill sets would indicate, but, in comparison to Boston, its nowhere near enough of a runs allowed reduction to offset the materially more runs the Red Soxs offense would score during the course of a season. All of which is to say, if you thought the Indians were vastly undervalued, or even miscast as an underdog in the ALDS, you pretty much have to come to the same conclusion for the ALCS. Click here for more.Choosing sides: Who will win?? The Indians will be challenged to win four games against a stacked Toronto lineup in this series, but you have to like their chances in Game 1. Corey Kluber dominated the Red Sox on 10 days rest in the division series, and hes fully recovered from the strained quadriceps that forced him to take a break at the end of the regular season. Kluber pitched well against the Jays in a 3-2 win at Progressive Field in August (after getting shelled in a 17-1 loss at Rogers Centre in July). Hell embrace the role of staff ace in the series opener, hand the ball to Andrew Miller and the bullpen, and get the Indians off to a good start. -- Jerry Crasnick?It is hard to call a Game 1 a must-win for any team, but the Indians probably need this one a little more. I think theyll get it with Kluber on the mound. If you look at Clevelands pitching, Kluber is by far their best starter. If Kluber can give them a strong seven innings and they dont have to use Miller, it would set the Indians up in Game 2 to go to Miller for a couple of innings and really shorten the game. Kluber could set the tone for this series with a strong outing. I say hell do it. -- Andrew MarchandWhere the series standsThe Indians went 53-28 at home and 41-39 on the road, so it seems that Kluber pitching at home is their optimal matchup for a win. If he pitches deep into the game, it would also give manager Terry Francona the ability to rely more on his bullpen in Game 2.? --?Schoenfield Buy Sacony Shoes Online . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Saucony Shoes On Clearance .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. http://www.discountsaucony.com/ . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Cheap Saucony Shoes . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. Saucony Clearance Outlet .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. ARLINGTON, Texas -- Esmil Rogers is turning into quite a starter for the Toronto Blue Jays. In his third start after opening the season as a reliever for the Blue Jays, the right-hander was as good as Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish in a 3-1 victory Thursday night. Both starters allowed only one run over seven innings, and the Blue Jays got the tiebreaking hit in the eighth when Edwin Encarnacion had a two-run double. "He was tremendous, he really was. You could kind of see that building," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Rogers. "Hes really taken to it." And the Blue Jays could have easily skipped Rogers (2-2), who was supposed to start Wednesday nights game at the Chicago White Sox that was postponed because of inclement weather. Instead, they just pushed back the entire rotation. "They give me that confidence," Rogers said. "Yesterday after the game, we sat down at my locker and they talked to me, that Id pitch tomorrow. I just went back to my room and thought about how I pitched the last time I pitched against the Rangers and let me go on the attack." Casey Janssen worked a perfect ninth for his 14th save. The slumping Rangers wasted another solid outing by Darvish, who has made five consecutive starts without a victory. "Im not amazed," Darvish said through his interpreter. "This is baseball. Anything can happen." Darvish allowed only three hits and walked two, but threw 110 pitches to get through seven innings. Since his last victory May 16 against Detroit, Darvish lost 1-0 to Oakland and has now gone four games in a row without getting a decision. The right-hander has a 2.08 ERA with 41 strikeouts in those 34 2-3 innings over those five games, but the Rangers have scored only seven runs for him in that same span -- and four of those runs came in the same game. "Some games you get a lot of run support. Others you dont," he said. "Im not really surprised by it." Nelson Cruz homered for the Rangers (38-28), who have lost three in a row at home. They have dropped eight of 12 overall, falling out of first place in the AL West and two games behind Oakland. The Athletics (41-27), who play four games in Texas next week, have won 21 of their last 26 games. They capped a three-game series sweep of the New York Yankees with a 3-2 win in 18 innings earlier Thurssday.dddddddddddd. Neal Cotts (2-1) replaced Darvish to start the eighth, when Emilio Bonifacio reached on a throwing error by Gold Glove third baseman Adrian Beltre. Munenori Kawasaki had a sac bunt before Tanner Scheppers, the second reliever, walked Jose Bautista before the double to left-centre by Encarnacion broke the 1-all tie. "Yeah, big hit," Gibbons said. "Joses big at-bat before that and (Bonifacio) getting it started and a nice sac bunt, we played well." Rangers centre fielder Leonys Martin made a diving attempt to catch the game-deciding hit. He was fully extended when the ball went under his glove. Martin sprained his left wrist after his gloved hand rolled awkwardly when he hit the ground. The Rangers said X-rays were negative, and said he was day to day with a mild sprain. "Just hurts a little bit, but I dont think its too serious," Martin said through a translator. "I had to run a lot and unfortunately, it was a great hit and I didnt get it." After Cruz homered in the second, Toronto got even in the third, when Bonifacio had a leadoff single. Bonifacio then stole second, sliding headfirst with his hand stretched out to the base just ahead of the tag. Manager Ron Washington came out to discuss the call with second-base umpire Paul Schrieber -- television replays showed the ump got the call right. Bonifacio scored on a single by Melky Cabrera. Darvish retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced after that, including the last 10. Rogers also retired 10 in a row around the same stretch, a streak that ended when Cruz had a two-out single in the seventh. But Rogers quickly got the third out and had thrown his last pitch when the Blue Jays went ahead. He had pitched 3 1-3 innings his first start, and then allow one run in four innings against the Rangers last weekend. "Im awful proud to get the opportunity," Rogers said. "It doesnt matter where Im going to be, Im going to do my best everywhere." Notes: Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, a former Mets player and minor league manager, was named Thursday as one of the AL coaches for the All-Star game next month at Citi Field in New York. ... Toronto had double plays to end each of the first two innings, including right fielder Bautista doubling off Chris McGuiness at first base in the second. ' ' '