The American League Central Division is a collage of many of baseball’s most fun (or just plain funny) stories. With the All-Star Break behind us, it’s worth zooming in on this chaotically interesting group of teams and what they’ve been up to lately.

1. Cleveland Guardians – 59-39 (.602), 0 GB

Cleveland is in an extremely enviable position, having the top draft pick of this past week while also boasting the third-best record in baseball.  That said, they’ve been skidding lately.  They’ve lost three series in a row and have a 7-9 record in July so far.   As usual, their pitchers stall other teams, but their hitting has almost completely shut off.  Despite delivering a 7-run shutout to the Padres on Friday, they’ve only scored 12 runs in their last six games, including three (!) scoreless performances.  Of course, José Ramírez has been their best hitter for the past week, but he only has six hits in the last six games.  The Guards seem to be in an offensive slump and now face a week (and beyond) of tough pitching teams with the Tigers and Phillies.  Fortunately, their explosive first half gave them a comfortable lead, but they may have to get aggressive at the deadline to maintain it further.

We're bananas for Bazzana. 🍌

With the first pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, we have selected 2B Travis Bazzana from Oregon State.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/pptQXhMQoq

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 14, 2024

2. Minnesota Twins – 54-44 (.551), 5.0 GB (WC2)

The Twins have also merely hovered around .500 through July so far.  They dropped a series to the Giants before the break, then were swept in two games by the Brewers.  Not much stands out from this stretch, but Joe Ryan’s last three starts have been troubling — especially when you remember how he fell off in the second half of last year.  Carlos Correa, who was really hot throughout the summer, hit the injured list with a heel injury.  They also have to deal with the Phillies and Tigers this week, but this is all probably irrelevant to most Twins fans.  The real Twins news is Joe Mauer’s induction into the Hall of Fame.

Minnesota kid turned Minnesota legend.

Joe Mauer, first-ballot Hall of Famer ✅

🎙️ Justin Morneau
🖊️ @jonmorosi pic.twitter.com/utM8hW4IOC

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 23, 2024

3. Kansas City Royals – 55-45 (.550), 5.0 GB (WC3)

The Royals promised to be aggressive at the the deadline, and they proved it by trading a draft pick for reliever Hunter Harvey.  With the bullpen struggles they’ve had this season, as well as a playoff spot they bled away, it makes sense. They walked into the All-Star Break by dropping two of three games to the Red Sox, the final Wild Card holder.  They then opened the second half by pulverizing the White Sox as the Twins and Red Sox both lost their series, giving KC their playoff berth back.  The Royals allowed just three runs total to the White Sox over the weekend, with Seth Lugo pitching his first complete game.  Bobby Witt Jr. was the Home Run Derby runner-up by mere feet, and he’s already accrued nine hits since.  Given how bad the White Sox are, though, it’s probably not worth much.  They’ll have to deal with the Diamondbacks and Cubs this week.  More excitingly, they had one of the most talked-about picks of the draft, the two-way slugger Jac Caglianone.

Give it up for Bobby Witt Jr.! 💪
50 HR
12 homers of 425+ feet
457 feet = top distance pic.twitter.com/SIMfgmNcrD

— MLB (@MLB) July 16, 2024

4. Detroit Tigers – 49-51 (.490), 11.0 GB (6.0 WCGB)

The Tigers are in an interesting spot.  They seem far away in a fierce, crowded playoff race, but they’ve won their last four series — and two of them were against the Guardians and Dodgers.  Their pitching has been good as usual, but it’s the offense that’s finally clicked in July.  The Tigers have the second-highest wRC+ of any team this month, behind only… um, the Athletics?  It’s been a team-wide improvement, but Colt Keith and Riley Greene have been hitting at particularly astounding rates, with 16 extra base hits and 23 RBIs between them in the last 15 games.  It’s not entirely clear what the Tigers will do at the deadline; they’ve planted the idea of trading their short-term pieces like Jack Flaherty, but if they stay hot they could be yet another buyer.  They can make this really interesting, as their remaining games before the deadline are all against AL Central teams: four versus Cleveland, three against Minnesota and another three against Kansas City.

Colt Keith. Game-tying homer. 😳

The @Tigers put up a 5-run 9th inning! pic.twitter.com/dgPbpAUDmU

— MLB (@MLB) July 13, 2024

5. Chicago White Sox – 27-74 (.267), 33.5 GB (28.5 WCGB)

In honor of the Twister reboot or whatever, the White Sox are in the suck zone.  And that’s because they’ve recklessly charged head-first into it.  The 2024 Chicago White Sox are the first team to lose 70 games before the All-Star Break.  Their .267 winning percentage, as of now, is just two points better than the 119-loss Tigers of ’03.  They were swept over the weekend, outscored 17-3 by KC.  They’ve lost seven games in a row.  And this is just a countdown to the deadline where they’re expected to sell their best players.  God knows what will happen to this team after that.  At least they don’t have the worst player in the game anymore…?

the white sox will not reach 90 wins this season 🙁 pic.twitter.com/RfO40Ju1ow

— Jay Cuda (@JayCuda) July 21, 2024