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

By K Michael Sweetman

Jun 7, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians shortstop Amed Rosario (1) rounds third base en route to scoring during the fourth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 7, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians shortstop Amed Rosario (1) rounds third base en route to scoring during the fourth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jun 5, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Detroit Tigers third baseman Nick Maton (9) celebrates his three-run home run with second baseman Zach McKinstry (39) against the Philadelphia Phillies during the seventh inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 5, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Detroit Tigers third baseman Nick Maton (9) celebrates his three-run home run with second baseman Zach McKinstry (39) against the Philadelphia Phillies during the seventh inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /

The rest of this division is a mess. The Detroit Tigers are just 4.0 games out of first, but at 26-33, are also 7 games under .500 and have the worst injuries possible piling up. Eduardo Rodriguez was having an incredible bounce back season (4-4, 213 ERA, 0.98 WHIP) until a ruptured finger pulley landed him on the IL last week, and welcome to your 30’s Spencer Turnbull, he’s been out since May 6 with neck discomfort. Take it from me, your lower back is next. One day you’re young and cool, and the next you have a favorite dish soap. While Turnbull wasn’t having anywhere near the success that Rodriguez was, he was taking the mound every fifth day and chewing up some valuable innings. Both of these injuries are going to force Detroit to fill those innings elsewhere, and it may not shock you to hear that the Tigers pitching depth is a little shallow. Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, Beau Briskie, and Alex Faedo are all on the injured list, and some of them have long term injuries and won’t be back anytime soon. That leaves Matt Boyd and journeyman Michael Lorenzen to lead a group of 20-somethings, and if I were a betting man, I would expect that scenario to fail more often than not.

Despite all of that, Detroit opened May with a five-game winning streak against the Mets and Cardinals and were 16-11 for the month. They are at or the near the bottom of the league in most offensive statistics, including being last in runs scored, but somehow manage to piece together enough wins to stay relevant. With 210 runs this season, no one, including Oakland, has scored fewer times than the Tigers, but they are 10-6 in one-run games, 6-3 in extra innings, and have shown a flare for comebacks and late inning rallies.

The lineup, however, took a huge hit last week with center fielder Riley Greene landing on the IL indefinitely with a stress fracture in his fibula. He joins Austin Meadows and Matt Vierling on the IL, and while that may not sound like a whole lot, those guys were all in the outfield on Opening Day. Akil Baddoo has risen to the challenge and taken over in left field, he hit .294 last month, raising his average from .222 to .262, collected three homers, walked as many times as he struck out, and stole a couple of bases. Zach McKinstry was impressive also, batting .301 for the month with 20 walks versus just 15 strikeouts, and stole six bases of his own. There really isn’t a lot to point to on Detroit, but they are fun to watch.

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