AL Central check-in: Twins, Guardians, White Sox, Tigers and Royals

The Cleveland Guardians were also 12-15 in May, and have also been plagued by a lack of offense on the young season. Twenty eighth in OPS, 28th in runs scored, they are dead last in home runs, and those numbers are equally as depressing over the last 30 days. It’s hard for me to believe that a lineup that features both Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor are last in the majors in homers, but through their first 59 games, the Guardians have left the park just 35 times, 11 fewer than the 29th-ranked Washington Nationals. So, not only are they last, they’re last by a wide margin. Eight of those 35 dingers belong to Naylor, and five of them came in May, where he raked with a .293 batting average and collected 25 RBI, as well.

Shane Bieber had a solid, albeit unspectacular month on the hill, and the Guardians were able to pick up three wins in his six starts. Rookies Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee were also impressive, but Cleveland welcomed Triston McKenize back from a shoulder injury last week and he could be a real difference maker going forward. Limited to just 79 pitches in his season debut, he landed 52 of them for strikes, striking out 10 Twins across 5.0 innings while allowing just two base runners. If this division is going to come down to a bunch of teams that might as well be swinging banjos, then it’s going to be elite pitching like that, that will decide it.