The biggest story in baseball this week is clearly the Cleveland Indians. They tied their own franchise record for the most consecutive victories with 13. They are not only leading the AL Central, they are running away with it. They are now six games ahead of the Kansas City Royals and show no signs of stopping. In one of the biggest signs of success, they are well above .500 at home and on the road. They actually played eight more on the road at this point in the season. Imagine when the schedule returns in their favor.

The Orioles have also been hot and they are building some space between them and their contenders. Add that to the Rangers and we can see that the American League pennant races are taking shape. Of course, the wild card hunt is completely different. Eight teams are separating by three games. So, the trade season is going to be fun and as always we will have the coverage you need to keep up with your fantasy teams.

If you read anything

The success of the Royals the past two seasons has created a mini revolution in the game. This is nothing new. Teams love to copy success as much as they can. So, a number of teams have attempted to stack their bullpens. The Indians haven’t done that. They’ve stacked their rotation with Danny Salazar, Carlos Carrasco, and Corey Kluber. If they add anything at the deadline it likely will be an end of the game reliever. All that being said, their success is proof that there are a number of different ways to find success. Every organization has strengths and they should play to those strengths instead of trying to copy someone else.

We kind of expected

The Washington Nationals hit a tough patch, but they’ve gotten their mojo back recently. They are on pace to win 96 games and run away with the NL East again. The star in the first half has to be Daniel Murphy. He had “only” one hit on Thursday night, but he is hitting .351 on the season with 14 home runs. Everyone rightfully focuses on Bryce Harper, but Murphy has been the most consistent performer in the first half.

We didn’t expect

The Tigers came into the ninth inning trailing 7-2. They ended up winning 10-7 after an eight run explosion in the ninth inning. It’s been a bit of a struggle on the mound for the Tigers, but their lineup is one of the best in the American League top to bottom. The biggest surprise is easily the performance of Cameron Maybin. He’s hitting .359 on the season and now has 20 RBI despite missing about half of the season to date.

Save Opportunities

• Wade Davis (19)
• Mauricio Cabrera (1)
• Francisco Rodriguez (22)
• Jeurys Familia (27)
• Chad Allen (17)
• David Robertson (21)

Injury News

The Dodgers placed Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list with a balky lower back. They are hoping he will miss the minimum amount of time. The Dodgers acquired veteran right hander Bud Norris to get them through the all-star break. Norris has spent time in the rotation and the bullpen this season, so he can easily go back to the bullpen once their rotation is at full strength.