Here is a cut n paste snippet from an article on mlb.com that may give some insight.
The Tigers, despite some notable reconfigurations in their lineup, remain a force, entering Monday with the best record -- not just in the AL Central, but in all of baseball.
They're 6-0 heading into the final stop on their three-city trip. Their 11-game road winning streak is their longest since 1984, the year of their last World Series title. Their seven-game lead in the AL Central is larger than the gap between first and last place in two other divisions.
"We're just going to try to ride that bike 'til the wheels fall off, like I always say," said Torii Hunter.
Carrying that momentum, however, isn't automatic. The Tigers have fallen into early-season trap series in Cleveland the past few years, including three-game sweeps in mid-May in 2012 and the end of April in 2011.
At neither point, however, were they playing this kind of baseball.
"I think experience will tell you momentum's tough to carry over from game to game," said Ian Kinsler. "It's a good feeling, and it's a lot easier to come to the ballpark, a lot easier to prepare yourself for a game, when you're winning. But as far as the game is concerned, it really doesn't care what happened the game before."
That said, Tigers starters have noted that they've tried to carry the momentum of the previous day's pitcher. That task now falls on Drew Smyly, who flew to Cleveland on Sunday afternoon ahead of the team, which had to play Sunday night.
The Indians, on the other hand, have seen their efforts to repeat as postseason entrants betrayed by struggles in the clutch, inconsistency in the rotation and a bewilderingly poor defensive showing. Those issues have snowballed in the Tribe's current four-game losing streak, which left them a full 10 games behind the Tigers -- and last in their division -- after Sunday's loss to the A's.
In other words, it has gotten late early in the 2014 installment of the Tigers-Indians rivalry, which is why the onus is on the Indians to climb back into relevance this week.
"Everybody here is aware of the fact that [the Tigers] are playing well," said Corey Kluber, who will start Monday's series opener at Progressive Field. "But it doesn't do us any good to compare ourselves to them, at this point."
All the Tribe can do is take care of business in-house, and Kluber, who has clearly been their most consistent starter this season, is their best possible option to get this series started off on the right foot.
Kluber (4-3, 3.38 ERA) has succeeded this season largely on the might of one of the best strikeout-to-walk ratios (5.08) in the league. He's struck out 10.1 batters per nine, while walking just two per nine -- and he fanned a career-high 13 batters in his last outing in Chicago.
The Tigers have roughed Kluber up to the tune of 23 earned runs in 37 2/3 innings in seven previous meetings, and, in the wake of the Prince Fielder trade, they present a different dynamic this season compared to last. They are much more oriented toward an aggressive mindset on the basepaths. In fact, they've already surpassed last season's stolen-base total.
"They're playing more small ball than in years past," Kluber said. "So in that sense, it is different. But, at the same time, they've got those guys in the middle of the lineup that are dangerous. So it's not an easier lineup to face, by any means."
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