Bring on the Indians.

The Boston Red Sox won the American League East with 93 wins, pulling away from the toughest division in baseball with 19 victories in September. It was their best month of the season, sparking a belief that this team was playing its best baseball at exactly the right time.

Then came October, and two straight losses to end the season. In all, Boston dropped five of its last six games, sparking a belief that the team’s best baseball came too soon. Because of those late-season losses, Boston will open the American League Division Series in Cleveland rather than Fenway Park.

Manager John Farrell will not announce his playoff roster until later this week. While most of the roster will be made up of obvious choices, some tough decisions remain.

No one in the Red Sox front office is asking my opinion, but I’m here to offer it anyway. So here is what my Red Sox ALDS roster would look like:

• Starting pitchers: This is easy. Rick Porcello, David Price, Clay Buchholz and Eduardo Rodriguez will be the playoff rotation. The only question is who starts Game 3? I’d go with Buchholz, to break up the lefties (Price and Rodriguez) and because of his experience.

• Bullpen: This gets a little trickier. The only sure things are Craig Kimbrel, Koji Uehara and Brad Ziegler. Robbie Ross Jr. is the leading lefty in the group, so let’s add him to the pen.

That’s four relief pitchers. There’s room for four more.

Drew Pomeranz has been a very good reliever over the course of his career, with a 2.14 ERA in 55 appearances. He came out of the bullpen Sunday and threw 11/3 scoreless innings, showing more velocity than he had in his starts. He’s dealing with forearm soreness, but could emerge as a key left-handed weapon out of the pen in the postseason.

That one relief appearance made him the best available lefty to join Ross in the bullpen. Robby Scott made his major league debut in September and is lacking the experience necessary to pitch in the pressure of a playoff game. And Fernando Abad has been a mess with the Sox, posting a 6.39 in 18 appearances.

So Pomeranz it is.

From the right side, Farrell has to choose another three pitchers from the group of Junichi Tazawa, Heath Hembree, Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly and Noe Ramirez. Tazawa has experience, but his ERA is over 4.00. Farrell trusts him, and that could land him on the roster. I’d go with Kelly (and his 100 mph fastball), Hembree (and his ability to pitch multiple innings) and Barnes.

• Catchers: Sandy Leon will be the starter. Who will be the backup? It was interesting that Christian Vazquez was behind the plate Saturday night. The Indians lead the league in stolen bases, and Vazquez has thrown out 44 percent of base runners (23 of 52) in 110 career games. He might just slide into the playoffs as Leon’s backup, ahead of Bryan Holaday and Ryan Hanigan.

• Other position players: There’s not too much debate here. David Ortiz is the DH; Hanley Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts and Brock Holt will be the starting infield. Aaron Hill and Travis Shaw will be the reserves who may get some starting time at third base. Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Chris Young and Andrew Benintendi are the outfielders.

That’s 25 players. Is it deep enough to lead the Sox to a pennant? We’ll get a clue beginning Thursday, when the Red Sox get back to playoff baseball for the first time in three years.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.

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