The Cleveland Guardians looked to have taken control of the AL Central with a hot streak in May that included a seven-game winning streak and 11 victories in a span of 13 contests. But, baseball being what it is, a cold spell was bound to follow, and the Guardians have lost six of their past seven, including their first sweep of the season, at the hands of the New York Yankees.
Meanwhile, the surprising Chicago White Sox have won nine of their past 13 to take over first place in the division. Last year, the White Sox lost 102 games, and in 2024, they lost 121.
Now, after falling into second place, the Guardians have also made an unfortunate move in ESPN’s latest power rankings, dropping from No. 7 to No. 8.
“The Guardians’ 4-1/2-game cushion in the AL Central has turned into a half-game deficit after they’ve lost three of their past four series. The road ahead seems quite treacherous. The Guardians will next host a weekend series against a Detroit team that has been better lately (and might have Tarik Skubal back for it), then hit the road for a three-city trip in which they’ll face the first-place Brewers, an Astros team that is rounding back into health, and, finally, the White Sox, the team that has suddenly passed them,” Alden Gonzalez wrote.
As Gonzalez hinted, the Guardians will indeed have to face Skubal, taking on the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner on Saturday, when Cleveland will send struggling Joey Cantillo to the mound. After that three-game series ends a six-game homestand, the Guardians will travel to play the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros before their first meeting of the season with the White Sox in a three-game series that wraps up a nine-game road trip.
The White Sox have yet to overtake the Guardians in ESPN’s power rankings, holding steady at No. 13. Chicago opened the season at No. 28 out of 30 MLB teams.
That could bode well for the Guardians, as the White Sox may not be able to keep up their pace for the rest of the season. No other team in the AL Central is above .500, with the Tigers at No. 25 in ESPN’s rankings, followed by the Minnesota Twins at No. 26 and the Kansas City Royals at No. 28.
This recent slide may have shown that the Guardians are not able to compete with the top teams in the AL as currently constituted. But they have almost two months before the Aug. 3 trade deadline to address their shortcomings.
In a tightly packed American League, any improvement they can make could be vitally important.
NEXT: Guardians Linked To Promising Infield Prospect In Latest Mock Draft
