Three up, three down: Just call them the WINdians

A look at what’s trending in MLB:

THREE UP

Indian summer: The Cleveland Indians advanced to the World Series last fall, but the Boston Red Sox got the hype last winter and the Houston Astros got the love this spring. Look who’s back: The Indians are riding a 17-game winning streak, the longest by a major league team in 15 years. In those 17 games, the Indians have given up 30 runs and thrown five shutouts, as many as the pitching-rich Washington Nationals have all year. The Indians got within one victory of a championship last fall without Edwin Encarnacion (signed as a free agent) and Carlos Carrasco (injured). Encarnacion has 34 home runs, Carrasco is 14-6 with a 3.53 earned-run average and is about to hit 200 strikeouts. The Astros might have bigger names in Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander, but Carrasco and Corey Kluber could be the best 1-2 punch in the American League.

Son of Vlad: Vladimir Guerrero, who figures to get elected to the Hall of Fame next year, made his pro debut at 19 and his major league debut at 21. His son, Vladimir Jr., might make his major league debut next year, at 19. He was selected as the ESPN prospect of the year, batting .323 with a .910 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and more walks than strikeouts at Class A — and, at 18, he was four years younger than the average player at that level. Vlad Jr. is a third baseman in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization. If the Jays decide to trade veterans and rebuild, he could be in line to succeed Josh Donaldson. Vladimir Guerrero had 1,179 minor league plate appearances when the Montreal Expos called him up; Vlad Jr. has 803.

Brave heart: As retired commissioner Bud Selig loved to say, baseball is a social institution with important social responsibilities. The Atlanta Braves did not forget that this week, throwing open their doors to neighbors in need. As Hurricane Irma closed in on the mainland, the Braves invited any evacuee from Florida, Georgia or South Carolina to come to Atlanta and take in a ballgame. No charge, just show up. “We hope we can help take their mind off the storm for a few hours by coming to enjoy a baseball game,” said Derek Schiller, the Braves’ president of business.

THREE DOWN

Snail’s pace: September call-ups used to be about the excitement of a peek at top prospects. The call-ups are now about the dread of the 15-man bullpen, exploited for every minuscule matchup advantage, rendering complaints about a three-hour game oddly nostalgic. The Angels set a major league record by using 12 pitchers on Labor Day; the Red Sox tied the record the next day. Three of the 12 pitchers the Angels used faced a single batter. Of the Angels’ first five games with expanded rosters, four lasted more than four hours. This isn’t an original solution, but it’s painfully overdue: Call up however many players you want in September, but only 25 can be active for each game. Activate different relievers every day, activate a starter only on the day he pitches, whatever, but 25 would be the daily limit.

Rhymes with disaster: Johnnie LeMaster is a synonym for futility among hard-core San Francisco Giants fans, a shortstop from the days when good-field, no-hit was no problem. LeMaster’s career on-base percentages and slugging percentages both were below .300, but the Giants started him for seven years. In 1985, they traded him to the Cleveland Indians, who traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates three weeks later — meaning he played for three 100-loss teams in the same season. We bring this up now because Giants third baseman and reclamation project Pablo Sandoval went hitless in 39 consecutive at-bats, breaking the San Francisco record formerly owned by LeMaster (37).

Get smart: The most overblown story of the week: the high-tech sign-stealing allegations involving the Red Sox and New York Yankees. Baseball already has let the high-tech cat out of the bag. Technology lets you know how fast the pitcher threw the ball, how hard the batter hit it, how badly the umpire blew the call. Technology lets players duck behind the dugout to review customized video scouting reports on the relief pitcher just summoned from the bullpen, and technology lets teams review the TV broadcast to decide whether to challenge a call. If your signs are predictable enough to be decoded, that’s on you, not on an Apple watch.

SERIES OF THE WEEK

ROCKIES AT DIAMONDBACKS

Monday through Thursday

The Arizona Diamondbacks all but clinched a playoff spot with back-to-back sweeps of the Dodgers, part of a 13-game winning streak. Yes, the Diamondbacks are legit; they swept the Dodgers in L.A. without MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt, and they have a better record than division leaders the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. And now they have a cushion to arrange their pitching so they can use ace Zack Greinke in the wild-card game. In 27 1/3 innings against the Rockies this season, Greinke has walked two and struck out 31. That assumes that the Rockies will qualify for the wild card after a recent stretch in which they lost 10 of 14 games, allowing the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals to creep into striking distance. Arizona swept Colorado at Coors Field last weekend; the Rockies scored eight runs in three games. All-Star reliever Pat Neshek, traded to Colorado after giving up five runs in 40 innings for the Philadelphia Phillies, gave up six in his first 15 innings for the Rockies.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Follow Bill Shaikin on Twitter @BillShaikin