9, but he's been quietly working his way back, and even threw a simulated game in Toronto during the ALCS. Forearm tightness has sidelined the right-hander since Sept. Schwarber's not going to play the field if he does return, and would be a wild card given he's only played one game - on Saturday, in the AFL - since April, but could find his way back as a DH in Cleveland and left-handed, pinch-hitting option against the Indians' overwhelmingly right-handed bullpen.Ĭleveland also has a potential return to be happy about in the form of starter Danny Salazar. No one in baseball even considered the possibility that Schwarber might recover quickly in six months, then suddenly show up in the Arizona Fall League on a rehab assignment that could foreshadow a remarkable return in the Fall Classic.
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When Kyle Schwarber tore his ACL and LCL in the Cubs' third game of the season, the consensus was his 2016 campaign was over. Both of these skippers have already crafted Hall of Fame-caliber resumes, and this series will serve to boost the Cooperstown credentials of both men - though only one will walk away with the prize. Now, they meet again in different uniforms, and that old AL East fire is bound to show itself at some point. While Maddon may have won some of those battles, Francona won the war in the form of two Red Sox championships to the Rays' zero. Maddon's remarkable Rays not only grabbed that playoff spot, but they ended Francona's legendary eight-year tenure in Beantown.
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Three years later, the Rays snatched the AL wild card out of Boston's hands with a memorable rally on the last day of the 2011 season, right as Francona's Red Sox were busy completing an epic September collapse. The pair met in the 2008 ALCS, where Maddon's Rays blew a 3-1 series lead, but held on to grab the franchise's first pennant in Game 7 and eliminate the defending champion Red Sox. From 2006-11 the pair locked horns frequently in the heavyweight AL East - Francona managing the Boston Red Sox, Maddon guiding the Tampa Bay Rays in what became a fairly hostile rivalry. Terry Francona and Joe Maddon know one another very well.