Kansas City Royals: Sixth Postseason Picture Update

AL Central leader

Cleveland

Overall record (through Sunday): 87-56

Last week: 7-0

This week: Vs. Detroit Tigers (Mon.-Wed.); vs. Kansas City Royals (Thu.-Sun.)

To think just a few weeks ago, some people thought the Kansas City Royals or Minnesota would actually challenge Cleveland for the Central Division title. Now, the defending American League champion looks well on its way to returning to the World Series.

As you may have noticed, Cleveland now claims the final slide of our postseason update thanks to sitting atop the overall standings. With their Sunday night win over Baltimore, the team passed Houston for the top seed in the AL.

The victory gave Cleveland its 18th consecutive win. You have to go all the way back to Aug. 23 to find the last time this team lost. On that date, they lost to Boston—the third loss in four days for Cleveland.

However, a victory over the Red Sox the following day has been followed by sweeps of the Kansas City Royals, Yankees, Tigers, White Sox and Orioles. The most incredible thing about the streak has been the dominant fashion in which it has occurred. Consider this, Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Baltimore is just the fifth win of the streak to come by two or fewer runs.

Cleveland has also pulled off this winning run despite very little rest. Twice during the streak the team has had to play doubleheaders. With just Aug. 31 as a scheduled day off during the stretch, the team has pulled off 18 total wins in 18 total days. The team still has seven games this week before finally getting another day off next Monday.

Next: How the Standings Have Changed

Those looking to end the streak this week—the Tigers and Kansas City Royals—can only hope the fatigue catches up with Cleveland. Otherwise, we could have another 7-0 week for Cleveland in our next update.