The Guardians are heading into the second half with no cushion left to lean on.
Cleveland sits tied atop the American League Central at 50-46, but that record tells only part of the story. Just seven weeks ago, the Guardians were 32-23 and holding a 4 and a half game lead in the division. What looked like a firm grip on the race has turned into a scramble, with Chicago now just a half game back at 49-45 and Minnesota three games behind at 47-49.
Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes summed up the change in blunt terms.
“The Guardians better be looking ahead as well. On May 24, they were 32-23 with a 4 and a half game lead in the division.
They seemed comfortably in charge of their own destiny. Now they’re in a division that has been turned upside down,” Hoynes wrote.
The timing of the slide lines up closely with the injuries to Jose Ramirez and Angel Martinez on June 13. Since then, Cleveland has gone 8-11 in games without Ramirez, and that stretch helped erase the advantage the club built early in the season. Instead of cruising toward the finish line, the Guardians are now locked into a three-team fight where every game matters a lot more than it did in late May.
There has been at least one encouraging sign lately: Cleveland has won three straight.
Even so, the second half comes with a much smaller margin for error. Ramirez and Martinez are both moving toward a return that could come as early as late July or early August, and their health may end up deciding whether the Guardians can get back on top or keep battling from a dead heat with two division rivals breathing down their necks.
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