Cleveland Indians must use August to secure the AL Central

With a relatively close division race, now is the time for the Cleveland Indians to distance themselves from the pack.

However, here we are in early August. Cleveland sits pretty atop the division with a slowly increasing lead, one that the team has maintained since late-June despite dropping five of the first six games to start the second half.

Sparked by a nine-game winning streak near the end of July (and

Francisco Lindor

finding his stroke), the Indians are set to pull away from the rest of their division rivals.

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Per baseball-reference.com, Lindor’s first-half struggles can likely be traced to his .260 BABIP, which is significantly lower than his .318 career BABIP average. Since the all-star break, that number is up to .377, spearheading his increased production, including a .946 second-half OPS.

Perez’s injury could impact the Royals enough to the point that they could be all but finished in the AL Central race.

Per baseball-reference.com, in three starts, he boasts a minuscule 1.35 ERA along with 28 punch-outs. The Indians may not flirt with 95 wins like they did in 2016, but this season is still shaping up to be a success.

Next: Zimmer's play is at peak Sizemore

With a strong August, Cleveland can just about lock-up this division and look ahead to October. There, they should repeat as AL Champions and it won’t come without some incredible competition.