Cleveland Indians now have more competition in the AL Central

The Cleveland Indians have yet to pull away in a weak American League Central division, opening up the way for two teams to compete for that top spot.

After a magical 2016 season, Cleveland Indians fans entered 2017 assuming the team would ride that momentum and easily return to the postseason. But the dominance has yet to be seen.

The Indians do enter play today in first place with a record of 43-37, but their lead in the AL Central is just two games.

The Minnesota Twins hold a record of 41-39, but they aren’t the only competition as the Kansas City Royals currently sit at 40-40, just three games back in the division.

Today is the halfway point in the season for all three teams, and a crucial point in the year for the Indians’ pursuit of a second straight division crown.

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Just think back to a week ago when the Indians got swept by the Twins and fell to second place in the division. Some panicked and claimed the sky was falling, but the Indians were able to bounce back with a solid week. However, the back and forth between the Indians and Twins has allowed the Royals to have a comeback of their own.

After starting 10-20, the Royals have rebounded to reach the .500 mark, good enough to be back in the thick of both the division and Wild Card race.

The prevailing mindset this season has been that the Indians are always about to go on a great stretch of baseball, pulling away from teams like the Twins and the Royals who will settle below or around the .500 mark. Both those teams have done just that, but the Indians haven’t done any sort of pulling away.

Fans may go back and point out individual games where a game was lost by the bullpen at the end, but it has been the offense that has let the team down on numerous occasions.

Last weekend against the Twins was a perfect example, when the Indians had the chance to build a respectable lead in the division. Instead, they got swept after scoring two runs in three games and had to fight to regain that top spot during the week.

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The slow start has created competition in a division that should easily be won by the Indians, making the second half of the season far more stressful than fans may have hoped for. However, the upcoming All-Star break could serve as a time for the team to regroup and come back fresh and healthy and ultimately pull away in the division.