Guardians set to begin crucial week of games

Fresh off a four-game series split with the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Guardians are set to embark on what is going to be a tough slate of games this week. Cleveland is set to take on two teams who are currently in the mix for Wild Card spots in their respective leagues, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Twins.

First up is Arizona. The Diamondbacks come in with a record of 60-52, having won eight of their last 10 games. Currently in the third Wild Card spot in the National League, Arizona has fought its way back into the playoff mix after somewhat of a disappointing beginning to their season. This is a team that was below .500 as recently as July 10th, which just goes to show how impressive they have been as of late. With that being said, there is just as good of a chance that the underperforming version of the Diamondbacks make an appearance rather than the current version. Either way, Arizona is a good team, and that will make the three-game series set to take place at Progressive Field far from easy.

Upon the conclusion of this home series, Cleveland will head out on the road to take on perpetual thorn in the side Minnesota. The Twins are currently in possession of the second Wild Card spot in the American League and have a 62-48 record on the year. Minnesota is 7-3 over their last 10 games, and showing signs of life that have been very inconsistent this year. That inconsistency from the Twins is why it is difficult to get an accurate read on the state of their ballclub. At times, they have shown they are capable of competing with the league's best, and at the same time, they put together underwhelming efforts against lesser opponents. Cleveland has clearly been the better of the two teams this year, having proven that with their 5-0 record against the Twins so far.

This is not necessarily a make-or-break stretch for the Guardians by any means, but it will still play a very important on how the rest of the season plays out. Cleveland's current 4.5-game lead in the American League Central could be drastically different this time next week, for better or for worse.