Kansas City Royals: Postseason Picture Update

AL Central leader

Cleveland

Overall record (through Sunday): 59-50

Last week: 2-4

This week: Off Monday; vs. Colorado Rockies (Tue.-Wed.); at Tampa Bay Rays (Thu.-Sun.)

Cleveland is in the midst of one of its more difficult stretches of the season.

Last week featured two games (of a scheduled three) against Boston and four against New York. This week consists of a two-game set against Colorado and four games in Tampa Bay with a makeup game in Boston coming next Monday.

All told (assuming all those games get played), Cleveland will have likely played 13 straight games against teams with a winning record by the time it faces Minnesota on Aug. 15.

If the first half of this stretch is any indication, the Central Division is still completely up for grabs.

As most Kansas City Royals fans have probably noticed, the defending AL champions have basically matched their team tit-for-tat since the All-Star break.

When the second half started, Cleveland had a three-game lead. On July 31, Cleveland had a two-game lead. After Sunday, Cleveland had a 2.5-game lead.

One step forward and one step back (usually in sync) has been the pattern. A great 10- or 12-game stretch by either team could decide the Central Division.