Breaking Down the Top Three Teams in the AL Central with Four Weeks Left in the Season

Three teams are fighting for the top spot in the American League Central division, as with four weeks left the Indians, White Sox and Twins are all within 1.5 of each other. There's plenty of reasons to like each team, and today we break down how each team looks and the keys for each to win the division moving forward.

The 2020 60-game regular season is now over half over, and the American League Central race is one that has become maybe the best in baseball.

The Indians sit a game ahead of the young, scrappy Chicago White Sox, while the favored Minnesota Twins are a game and a half back of the Tribe for the division lead.

Each team has a number of strengths and weaknesses, and while all three are going to make the postseason with the expanded playoffs, winning the division will have its benefits.

Today we take a look at each team and break it down as to what to expect over the final four weeks of the season.

Let’s start with the Tribe who despite having an offense that can only be described as anemic, lead the division because of stellar pitching both starting and out of the pen.

Shane Bieber is the front-runner for the American League Cy Young, as the August AL Pitcher of the Month is 6-0 with an ERA of 1.20 ERA.

Bieber Takes Home the AL Pitcher of the Month Award For August

The team pulled off a massive deal on Monday prior to the trade deadline, dealing pitcher Mike Clevinger to the San Diego Padres along with Greg Allen and a player to be named later for six players.

A Breakdown of the Massive Trade Between the Indians and Padres

One of those new players, outfielder Josh Naylor, is going to get a chance to prove his worth by playing left field the rest of the season. Naylor is off to a 3-for-10 start at the plate with an RBI.

The schedule for the Indians begins this weekend with the start of a seven-game homestand with the Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals.

The biggest games for the Tribe will start next weekend when the team goes back to Target Field to take on the Twins in a three-game set. The Twins beat the Tribe in three of four games in Minnesota earlier this season.

The team will play host to the White Sox for four games September 21st to the 24th, and end the year with three home games against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, who they swept at PNC Park last month.

If the Indians are going to hang on and win this division, it will come down to the first five guys in the lineup and how they perform and carry the rest of this offense.

You simply can’t count on winning games 1-0 or 2-1 on a nightly basis, and as bad as the Indians offense has been they are lucky the pitching has been just that good to put them in a spot to win the Central.

14 of their last 23 games are at Progressive Field, also giving them an edge as they look to hoist another AL Central Flag in 2020.

The Chicago White Sox are the number one team in the American League when it comes to team batting average with a mark of .265 with 65 homers in 37 games.

The team is being led by a couple players in their starting nine - Jose Abreu (.313, 12 homers 33 RBI), Tim Anderson (.333, 6, 11), Eloy Jimenez (.284, 11, 28), Luis Robert (.279, 10, 24).

If the Sox are going to be successful they are going to need their top three in their rotation to be even better than they have been already.

Lucas Giolito is 3-2 with a 3.14 ERA off his All-Star season a year ago, Dallas Keuchel is 5-2 with a 2.42 ERA and has been impressive in his eight starts. Dylan Cease rounds out the top three with a mark of 4-2 with an ERA of 3.00.

The Sox have 23 games left, 10 of which will be at home at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Their four-game set with the Indians in three weeks could very well decide who walks away with this division.

Before that Chicago has a pair in Pittsburgh with the Pirates, four in Kansas City starting Thursday night, three at home against the Tigers next weekend followed by four against the Twins in what will be another critical series.

While the Twins have won two straight to try and get back on track, the 2019 AL Central champs were in the midst of a tough six-game losing streak which included two losses to the Indians at Progressive Field.

The Twins are currently 18th in baseball in batting average with a mark of .240, and injuries have not helped their cause in that department. On a positive note for Minnesota, Josh Donaldson is back and Jake Cave is getting hot at the right time for the Twins.

Injuries to the Twins have included the likes of Mitch Garver, Homer Bailey, Jake Odorizzi, Donaldson and Byron Buxton.

When 100 percent it’s hard to bet against this team that can hit with the top teams in baseball and also has enough pitching to make a serious World Series run.

Their schedule the rest of the way includes five straight against the Tigers (one of which is a makeup game), two games in St.Louis before hosting the Indians next weekend.

After the series with the Tribe they have four games against the Sox in Chicago, their biggest seven game stretch of the season and one that very well could decide their fate as far as repeating as division champs go.

There have been plenty of questions about how the tiebreakers will work in 2020 with a number of teams that could wind up tied at the end of the month.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how the tiebreaker looks and how it will be determined.

“Tiebreaker games will be eliminated, with ties broken by head-to-head record, followed by better record within a team's division and record in the last 20 games within the division. If there is still a tie, the standard would be last 21 games within a division, then 22, etc."

Here is the way that the season will breakdown by the time it’s all said and done:

Twins

vs CLE: 4-3 (3 games remaining)

vs CHW: 4-2 (4 games remaining)

vs DIV total: 13-13 (14 games remaining)

vs DIV final 20: 2-4 (14 games remaining)

Indians

vs MIN: 3-4 (3 games remaining)

vs CHW: 4-2 (4 games remaining)

vs DIV total: 15-10 (15 games remaining)

vs DIV final 20: 4-1 (15 games remaining)

White Sox

vs MIN: 2-4 (4 games remaining)

vs CLE: 2-4 (4 games remaining)

vs DIV total: 15-10 (15 games remaining)

vs DIV final 20: 2-3 (15 games remaining)

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For more from Matt Loede, follow him on Twitter @MattLoede. Follow CBI on Twitter @IndiansonSI