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The Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians just wrapped up a stretch of eight games against one another with no ground being gained on either side. The White Sox have taken another step backwards and the Kansas City Royals broke the trading dam as we enter the month of the deadline. The Standings: Minnesota 43-36 Cleveland 39-34 Chicago 35-39 Detroit 29-45 Kansas City 27-47 Minnesota did take back over the top of the division after briefly ceding it by percentage points, but run differential continues to tell another story for everyone not named the Twins. The AL Central continues to be a weak division overall, and most projection systems continue to believe in the White Sox pretty heavily. The Stories: For Minnesota it’s been an emergence of the youngsters. While Trevor Larnach was put on the injured list and core-muscle surgery, Jorge Polanco returned and both Jose Miranda and Alex Kirilloff have been substantial in the lineup. Kirilloff is hitting for power we never previously saw prior to his St. Paul demotion, and Miranda has been on an absolute tear over the past month. The rotation got some health injected into it with both Sonny Gray and Josh Winder returning to their spots as well. It's still clear this club needs to make trade there are more than a few options out there. White Sox superstar Tim Anderson was named a finalist to start at shortstop in the All-Star Game. The game will take place at Dodgers Stadium in a couple of weeks. Yoan Moncada was activated off the injured list on Tuesday and him being a consistent option for Tony La Russa’s lineup would be something that the club has not yet seen this season. Lenyn Sosa made his MLB debut while Moncada was out, and collected his first hit. Chicago hit the skids a bit this past week going 4-6 over their last ten and dropping to -48 in the run differential column.. Walk offs were the name of the game for Cleveland this week. The Guardians walked Minnesota off twice to end the second series they played each other, and Terry Francona’s club routinely bludgeoned Minnesota’s bullpen. Andres Gimenez was responsible for one of the walk-offs and has put up an All-Star-worthy campaign. Jose Ramirez was named a finalist to start at third base in the All-Star Game. Cleveland did also acquire Sandy Leon from the Cincinnati Reds while they lost Ian Gibaut to the Los Angeles Dodgers on waivers. Things are relatively status quo in Detroit, which is to say not exceptionally great. They did sign right-handed pitcher Drew Hutchison to a minor league deal after he had elected free agency a week prior. The Tigers shipped catcher Ryan Lavarnway to the Miami Marlins late last week in a depth move. He had played 44 games at Triple-A Toledo but had not made a big league appearance yet in 2022. Lavarnway was assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville by Miami. Miguel Cabrera also moved up on the all-time hits leaderboard in the past week as well. Kansas City made the biggest waves this week when they capitalized on a hot stretch from veteran Carlos Santana and dealt him to the Seattle Mariners for right-handed pitchers Wyatt Mills and William Fleming. The next move that came from this deal was a big one in that the Royals were able to promote their third-best prospect, Vinnie Pasquantino. They did have to place right-handed pitcher Josh Staumont on the injured list with a next strain. Veteran starter Zack Greinke made his 500th career start. The Week Ahead: After dealing with a divisional foe twice in the last week, Minnesota gets Baltimore at home over the weekend before traveling to face the White Sox for a three-game series starting on Independence Day. A much-needed off day is coming on Thursday. Finishing their west coast trip with a three-game set in San Francisco, Chicago returns home for the Twins series and then welcomes Detroit into town for a four-game series that goes through the weekend. Things don’t get easier for Cleveland after needing to deal with the Twins. They stay at home this weekend, but an angry New York Yankees team comes to town after having been handled by the Houston Astros. Cleveland then has yet another double-header on Monday, starting four games in three days with the Tigers. It’s all AL Central action for Detroit. Kansas City is in town this weekend, then the Cleveland series, and the week finishes with a four-game set on the road against the White Sox. Kansas City’s test won’t be so much on the road against Detroit this week as much as it will be when they immediately travel to Houston for four with the Astros. Bringing up the rear of the division, the gap could get wider for them in a hurry? What are you looking forward to this week? Can Minnesota create some breathing room now getting to face teams not named the Guardians? View full article