Kansas City Royals: Fifth Postseason Picture Update

AL Central leader

Cleveland

Overall record (through Sunday): 80-56

Last week: 7-0

This week: At Chicago White Sox (Mon.-Thu.); vs. Baltimore Orioles (Fri.-Sun.)

There is no hotter team in baseball than the club in Cleveland—although Arizona is a close second. Not only did the team have the only perfect week in the American League, Cleveland was the only team with fewer than two losses.

After sweeping the Kansas City Royals the final weekend in August, Cleveland roped off seven more victories this week to run its winning streak to 11 games. (The team also beat Boston the day before Kansas City came to town.)

It was still a strange week for Cleveland. When you see they went 7-0, you probably assumed it was one win each day of the week. That was hardly the case. Here’s how it actually went:

• Monday: One win over Yankees
• Tuesday: Rainout
• Wednesday: DH sweep of Yankees
• Thursday: Scheduled day off
• Friday: Scheduled DH sweep of Tigers
• Saturday: One win over Tigers
• Sunday: One win over Tigers

That makes Cleveland’s winning streak even more impressive. It could also lead to some fatigue. The team does not have a day off again until Sept. 18. Before it reaches that point, Cleveland will play four games against the White Sox, three against the Orioles, three against the Tigers and four against the Royals.

Cleveland has the Central Division in the bag and just passed Boston in the race for home-field advantage. Houston is within reach, but having 14 games over the next 14 days might be asking too much—even of this outstanding team.