I spent most of late-April talking about this deadlock in the AL Central, between the top four teams (read: everyone but the Royals). And now, about a month later, we finally have something resembling a resolution. The Twins and Indians are on top, the Tigers are swimming below them in third, and the White Sox...weren't really cut out for the whole thing, were they?
A majority of the lineup is doing well enough, but the people on this team who're doing disastrously badly are the ones yanking them towards the Royals. Cody Asche had a dreadful run as their DH, and Todd Frazier is having a horrible season, batting nowhere near the Mendoza line and striking out like it's his job. The majority of the team is hitting around .250, and while there are some good hitters, like Avisail Garcia and Jose Abreu, people aren't...doing well.
The pitching's equally vexing- James Shields was having a comeback season until he landed on the DL. Derek Holland's having a great year so far, but the rotation has a ton of people who are pitching pretty alright, but have inflated ERAs. Jose Quintana falls under that category- he throws strikes and is still a good pitcher, but people are still finding ways to hit him. This is a problem, especially considering that Quintana, in Chris Sale's absence, is the uppercase ACE this year.
A very soggy mixed bag for the White Sox, but not without positive momentum.
Coming Tomorrow- The Brewers spent a good week on first, thanks in part to this versatile bench player.
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