AL Central battle between Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers

If history serves, after the All-Star Game break is when the Detroit Tigers solidify its hold over the AL Central with eyes on the post-season. This year, the first-place Tigers (53-38), which have won 17 of 23 of late, are 6.5 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals.

Tigers Manager Brad Ausmus said, “I’ve said you don’t get overly excited about where you are in the standings until the end of the season, but you certainly can’t complain being atop the division.”

Detroit hosts Cleveland this weekend with Victor Martinez expected to return to action against his former team.     He said, “There’s like a 95 percent (chance) that I’m going to be able to play when I get back on Friday. I have to get back into the lineup and keep helping the team.”

Anibal Sanchez (6-3, 3.04) starts for the Tigers tonight while Trevor Bauer (3-4, 3.84) gets the nod for the Indians. In two starts against Detroit this year, Bauer is 1-0 with a 4.38 ERA.

As far as the Indians (47-47) are concerned, it’s been a disappointing first half of the season with General Manager Chris Antonetti hoping the team can get hot like it did last year at this time.

He said, “There’s nothing that you can do about what’s happened already, other than learn from it and see if there’s opportunities for us to get better moving forward. I believe in the group of the guys we have. I believe in our coaching staff, and I’m confident we’ll play better than we have in the second half.”

Even though Detroit’s money line is -159, that’s probably the smart move considering the Tigers are on a roll while Cleveland appears to be struggling of late.