Guard-ing The Central 

By : Mike Rifkin

We are coming down the stretch of the Major League Baseball season the Cleveland Guardians have made a massive statement. Starting last Thursday the Guardians had nine games against the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox the two teams trailing them in the AL Central. All the Guardians did in the nine game span was go 7-2. They lost a makeup game to the White Sox at home, before taking four of five from the Twins at home and sweeping the White Sox on the road ending their season series with both. The Guardians went 13-6 against the Twins and 12-7 against the White Sox. Amed Rosario hit .376 with four home runs and 19 RBI’s against the Twins. Jose Ramirez hit .263 with two home runs and six RBI against Minnesota. Ramirez drove in 15 runs against the White Sox despite hitting .217. Rookie Steven Kwan, who should get a lot of consideration for Rookie Of The Year hit .329 against the Twins and hit .363 against the White Sox. Triston Mckenzie who has had a really solid season for the Guardians went 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA in four starts against Chicago. Ace Shane Bieber went 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA in four starts against the Twins.

Every expert had the White Sox run away with the division. The White Sox were banged up all year and never really got going, the Twins were in first place the bulk of the year, but the Guardians eventually took over and with their recent surge the Guardians now have a seven game lead over the White Sox and 10 game lead over the Twins. The Guardians magic number to clinch is at five. Unless something awful happens the Guardians will win the AL Central and once they do in my mind Terry Francona should win his third American League Manager Of The Year. Especially after having to step away last season citing health reasons, but with Francona at the helm the Guardians are on the cusp of another postseason berth.