News Now: Stats suggest Twins might be able to catch Guardians in….

The Cleveland Guardians are second in Major League Baseball with a winning percentage of 58-37, best in the American League. They lead the Twins by 4.5 games going into the second half of the AL Central competition. The Guardians are clearly not an anomaly, as seen by their +85 run differential. They have been outstanding.

But if you look a little closer at certain other stats, you could discover that Cleveland doesn’t fit the mold of a standard top-five squad. The Guardians are by far the luckiest club in the league this year, according to a Twitter account called the “MLB Deserve-To-Win-O-Meter,” which calculates how fortunate teams are based on the projected results of their hitting profiles in a particular game. On the other hand, the Twins are

Though their lineup doesn’t exactly scream championship contender, the Guardians are nonetheless a good club. The only four players in the lineup with an OPS+ higher than 100 are David Fry, Josh Naylor, Jose Ramirez, and Steven Kwan. After a scorching two-month start, Fry is batting.202 with no home runs since June 1st, despite the fact that the first three are really excellent hitters. Pitching-wise, Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Ben Lively lead a lackluster starting rotation while Shane Bieber is out for the season. To be fair, the bullpen in Cleveland, led by Emmanuel Clase, has been excellent.

The Guardians’ remaining strength of schedule is another statistic that can be important in the second half. They have an opponent winning percentage of.523, making them the second-toughest remaining SOS in baseball.