Cleveland Indians: Checking in on the rest of the competition in the AL Central

The Cleveland Indians are beginning to pull away in the American League Central and the race may be over by the end of July.

The Cleveland Indians only won a single game in St. Louis to start the week but it didn’t hurt their lead in the American League Central.

The Indians enter play today with an eight-game lead over the Minnesota Twins and a 9.5-game lead over the struggling Detroit Tigers.

As the team prepares to take on the Oakland A’s, I wanted to check in on the standings to get a good glimpse of just how bad the rest of the Central is:

1. Indians: 44-35
2. Twins: 35-42, 8 GB
3. Tigers: 36-46, 9.5 GB
4. White Sox: 28-52, 16.5 GB
5. Royals: 25-55, 19.5 GB

Remember when the Royals had a chance to be surprise contenders? Me neither.

I genuinely feel bad for White Sox and Royals fans who have to watch such bad baseball. When the front office assembles a team incapable of success, it is hard to even offer up any support as a fan.

The good news is that the Indians are doing well, so we here in Cleveland don’t have to worry about such negativity right now.

It is insane to see the rest of the division be so far under the .500 mark. This is the only division in baseball with only one team over .500 and the Indians easily own the biggest division lead in baseball. The Diamondbacks and Astros are next as each have 3.5-game leads in their respective divisions.

The Indians have played some dud games against the Central but still own a combined 25-13 record against the four other teams. And as the trade deadline approaches, some top talent in the division may be shipped elsewhere. That means the Indians will be taking on some glorified minor league teams near the end of the season.

Next: Previewing the weekend duel with the A’s

This giant lead doesn’t mean the Indians can start playing terrible baseball, but their combined talent should be enough to begin increasing the lead as the summer continues on.