For the first time since April 10, the AL Central has a new division leader.
That division leader still doesn't have a winning record, but the Guardians slipped to the top spot despite their 39-40 record because they've won two in a row, while the Twins were swept out of Atlanta by the Braves
The quotes out of Minnesota's clubhouse sound awfully familiar to a White Sox fan. The problems include a lack of plate discipline ...
... an inability to deliver in the clutch ...
Despite having myriad base runners and opportunities throughout the game, the big hit never arrived. Instead of rallying from a large, early deficit, the Twins underwhelmed yet again, finishing 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranding nine. The lack of production led to the Twins falling to 5-25 when scoring two or fewer runs. [...]
The Twins’ failures hitting with the bases loaded are well documented. Their inability to crush fastballs (they entered Tuesday 20th in the league in expected weighted on-base average against four-seamers) is increasingly apparent with every heater down the middle taken for a strike. And the disappointing performances of Correa and Buxton have been thoroughly dissected as well.
... and it's hard to know how healthy key players, whether it's Byron Buxton dealing with back spasms, or Carlos Correa working through plantar fasciitis.
The Guardians might be on an upswing, or they just might have the benefit of playing the Kansas City Royals, whom they stomped 14-1 on Wednesday. They're now 2-0 against Kansas City on the year, and they have to make hay against the cellar-dwellers, because the Twins won six of their first seven games against the Royals.
But back to the Twins, I wonder if they're regretting the Luis Arraez trade. Pablo Lopez has cooled down after the blazing start that netted him a four-year, $73.5 million extension, as he's running a 4.41 ERA. He's still on pace to throw 190 innings, which is the kind of workload they sorely needed, but Arraez is hitting .400 with the Marlins while the Twins are on pace to set the MLB record for strikeouts in a season. Perhaps it's less that they traded Arraez for López, and more that they replaced Arraez with Joey Gallo. There's a 68-strikeout gap from those two players alone.
Either way, this only matters to the degree that the White Sox can stop gravitating back toward a dozen games under .500 themselves, so scoreboard-watching always feels a little bit pointless. The counterargument is that the state of the AL Central is the only thing keeping the 2023 White Sox relevant, and all it takes is one well-timed hot streak to relegate them to selling.
