How are the White Sox staying afloat in the AL Central? Look at the other teams

It was all coming together for the White Sox. Finally.

Friday night's 2-1 win over the Marlins was their sixth in seventh games, moving the Sox into sole possession of third place in the AL Central.

"We've been on a good stretch lately," starting pitcher Dylan Cease said. "We've played really well in all facets of the game. When we play like that, we're going to be very hard to beat."

The White Sox's bullpen was driving the surge, and there was little doubt Liam Hendriks' return from cancer provided a significant boost.

But after pitching a perfect ninth inning Friday, Hendriks' right elbow started barking, and the all-star closer landed on the injured list.

Joe Kelly was called on to close Saturday's game against Miami. He failed.

Kendall Graveman was called on to close Sunday's game. He failed.

Just like that, the Sox are falling apart again.

With a 29-38 record, the White Sox would be down for the count in any division but the AL and NL Central.

For as bad as they've been over the opening two-plus months of the season, they still have a fighting shot. That's assuming the Sox figure out a way to come together for a much longer stretch.

"It creates a little bit of excitement for fans, for baseball, to have a division that somebody's not just running away with it," manager Pedro Grifol said. "But you can't count on other teams to lose so you can win. You have to do your own job.

"We've got to come ready to play baseball because we can win a division and get in the playoffs and once you're in the playoffs, anything can happen."

The White Sox have to hope Hendriks' elbow injury isn't serious, and they need much better offensive production and more from starting pitcher Lance Lynn (4-6, 6.72) if they hope to hang around.

As for the rest of the AL Central, there's not much to see:

Twins

They lead the division with a - wait for it - 33-33 record.

Like the Sox, Minnesota doesn't hit.

In addition to an anemic .231/.312/.400 team slash line, the Twins lead the major leagues with a whopping 678 strikeouts.

Luis Arraez was traded to the Marlins and the second baseman leads MLB with a .397 batting average. He's missed in the Twin Cities, but Minnesota is happy with starting pitcher Pablo Lopez, whom they acquired from Miami for Arraez, and the rotation has been one of baseball's best.

Believe it or not, Byron Buxton leads the Twins with a .220 batting average. A standout player when he's healthy, Buxton is back on the injured list again with bruised ribs.

Do the Twins regret bringing Carlos Correa back on a six-year, $200 million contract? The shortstop is hitting .217/.304/.406 with 59 strikeouts in 212 at-bats.

Guardians

As MLB's youngest team last season, Cleveland was the smart choice to repeat as AL Central champions this year.

So far, not so good.

The Guardians rank last in baseball with 42 home runs and have scored only 250 runs in 65 games.

Star third baseman Jose Ramirez got off to a slow start after having off-season thumb surgery, but he's been heating up and has 4 home runs and 7 RBI in his last three games.

Cleveland always seems to have solid starting pitching, but it's been Shane Bieber and not much else so far this season.

Tigers

Hey, look, Detroit can't hit, either!

The Tigers have the lowest team batting average (.223) in baseball and they likely have serious remorse about signing shortstop Javy Baez (.220/.262/.314) to a six-year, $140 million contract before the 2022 season.

Detroit actually deserves some credit for having a 26-37 record.

In addition to a near complete lack of offense, starting pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Spencer Turnbull and Matt Manning are all on the injured list.

Oh yeah, their best player, center fielder Riley Greene, is sidelined with a stress fracture in his left leg.

Royals

Even in baseball's worst division, Kansas City (18-47) is already out of the race.

Terrible pitching and an offense to match make this a tough team to watch.

When Salvador Perez, a 33-year-old catcher, is your best player by a wide margin, that's not a good sign.