Guardians fans are missing a leg to stand on as Tigers, AL Central head into pivotal week

With their win over the Giants on Sunday, the Tigers are 58-60, 3.5 games back of the AL Central-leading White Sox and just one game back of a Wild Card spot. They have the best run differential in the American League, and their win in San Francisco marked a franchise-high seven consecutive road series victories.

They begin a six-game stretch at home on Tuesday, and it may be their most important week of the season, with three games against the Guardians and three against the White Sox. Not only can the Tigers put more distance between themselves and now-third place Guardians, they can gain a lot of ground on the White Sox. There's even a world in which Detroit comes out of this stretch leading the AL Central.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. We would be remiss not to acknowledge that Cleveland's loss to Chicago on Sunday put them at 58-61, half a game back of Detroit, which means they blew what was once an 11.5-game lead over the Tigers.

Cleveland fans, you can put away all of your corny customized jerseys and head for door with your tail between your legs now.

Tigers officially overtake Guardians in AL Central standings as they enter key week of play

The Tigers, 6-2 in August, enter this week a lot hotter than the 2-6 Guardians and 3-5 White Sox. To be fair, both had at least slightly more challenging schedules, but Detroit is still coming into this series feeling far better about themselves — and they'll be on home turf. Their 30-27 record at home is better than either of their opponents' records on the road.

There's always the Guardians' devil magic to worry about, and the fact that the White Sox have exceeded expectations to a point where even Tigers fans have to grudgingly applaud them for it, but Detroit tends to be at their best when they're the ones on the hunt. "A city that doesn't care about the odds has a baseball team to match," right?

This is far from the last time any of these teams will see each other this season — the Tigers have a potentially perilous seven-game stretch against the Twins and Guardians later this month — but it is an opportunity for Detroit to plant a flag.

Since June 1, the Tigers have looked like the team everyone expected to lead the AL Central coming into this season. This is when they really get to prove it.

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