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Guardians three point checklist for the rest of June

By James Mastrucci |
Cleveland Guardians v Minnesota Twins
Cleveland Guardians v Minnesota Twins / Adam Bettcher/GettyImages
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The Cleveland Guardians are 27-32 a few days into June and trail the American League Central leading Minnesota Twins by 3.5 games. It has been mostly lows with a few highs so far, but this team is capable of playing better than what they have shown. Their performance over the last few series has inspired some hope which should make it a bit easier to complete the three checklist points that follow.

1. Guardians June checklist point one: Continue improved hitting

The Guardians offense has been dreadful for the majority of the season, but the last seven days things have gone a bit better. As a team the Guardians are slashing .279/.330/.414 which is a lot more respectable than their season slash line of .233/.301/.349. This has led to Cleveland scoring the fourth-most runs (29), hitting the seventh-most doubles (12), ranking 13th in home runs (5), and their .744 OPS being the 12th best over that period. These are also improvements, some massive, over their season ranks of 28th in runs, 15th in doubles, 30th in home runs, and 29th in OPS (.649).

2. Guardians June checklist point two: Get back above .500

The aforementioned improved performance at the plate should make getting back above .500 a bit easier. Seeing the Guardians offense look like a MLB caliber offense has helped them win six of their last 10 games, winning two series and splitting another. They just need to continue putting together stretches like this to stack up wins and they will get back above .500 in no time.

3. Guardians June checklist point three: Overtake the Twins for the division lead

If the Guardians are able to accomplish the first two tasks it makes completing this task significantly more possible. Minnesota is only two games above .500 at 31-29 and it is quite clear that they are not some powerful juggernaut that cannot be defeated. On top of that, the Twins continue to lose key players to the injured list while a couple others look to avoid joining them. At the same time the Guardians just got two arms back in Aaron Civale and Triston McKenzie, solidifying their rotation after being in a state of flux for most of the season. With health and availability on Cleveland's side it is not out of the realm of possibilties for the Guardians to be atop the division at month's end.

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