Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the Yankees’ top American League opponents are up to through the Rivalry Roundup. The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but with the season’s first full month coming to a close, we’re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who’s surprising? Who’s underwhelming? Who’s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out.
First Place: Detroit Tigers (53-32)
Top Position Player: Riley Greene (3.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Tarik Skubal (4.3 fWAR)
The Tigers had already opened a decent lead after May, but they’re now on the verge of running away with the division. Detroit was only a couple games over .500 in June, going 15-11, but that was still enough to add 5.5 games to their cushion, taking it to 11.5.
The ever-dominant Tarik Skubal remains the big story for the Tigers, as he is arguably the favorite for AL Cy Young once again, but June for them belonged to Riley Greene. The outfielder hit .360/.404/.630 over the course of the month, including 15 extra-base hits in 100 at-bats.
Second Place: Cleveland Guardians (40-42, 11.5 GB)
Top Position Player: JosĂ© RamĂrez (3.3 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Cade Smith (1.5 fWAR)
Unlike last year where all but one of the AL Central teams finished above .500, this year even the second-place Guardians currently sit below the mark. That being said, while Cleveland has fallen a good ways back of the Tigers, they’re still not too far off an AL Wild Card spot. However, they have fallen so far back of Detroit because they mostly struggled in June, going 9-16 and getting swept by the Cardinals over the weekend.
That’ll happen when you only score 72 runs in 27 games, like they did in June. JosĂ© RamĂrez is still JosĂ© RamĂrez and Steven Kwan also rates as an above average hitter, but those are the only two hitters in their lineup with a wRC+ above 110, and there are only two others, Kyle Manzardo and Daniel Schneemann at 108 and 100 respectively, who even crack the league average 100 mark. On the pitching front, they have a bunch of good contributors as opposed to one or two aces, but that won’t matter if their offense continues to not do much.
Third Place: Minnesota Twins (40-44, 12.5 GB)
Top Position Player: Byron Buxton (3.4 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Joe Ryan (2.1 fWAR)
The Twins got red hot in May, including a 13-game winning streak that got them into the AL Central conversation after a slow start. They couldn’t keep that up in June, going 9-18 to drag them back under .500.
Whereas the Guardians fell off the pace due to lack of offense, the Twins’ issue was their pitching, as they surrendered over six runs per game in June. Their month featured six different games where the opposing team cracked double digits. Their offense averaged 4.59 runs per game in June which is above the MLB average this season.
Their pitching has a perfectly respectable 1-2 punch in Joe Ryan and Pablo López, but the next best ERA of any of their pitchers who’ve made at least five starts is Simeon Woods Richardson at 4.63. That won’t cut it.
Fourth Place: Kansas City Royals (39-46, 14 GB)
Top Position Player: Bobby Witt Jr. (3.9 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Kris Bubic (2.9 fWAR)
The Royals’ surprise ascent from 106 losses in 2023 into the playoffs last year came about from not only Bobby Witt Jr. having a season that would’ve won MVP in an Aaron Judge-less world, but also getting good contributions from an excellent rotation and some solid others in the lineup.
So far this year, Witt has still been excellent, and the rotation has been very good, even if Cole Ragans has been subpar and is now currently injured. KC’s big issue is that besides Witt, a breakout campaign from Maikel Garcia, and solid contributions from Vinnie Pasquatino, the rest of their lineup is a black hole. Those three have OPS+’s of 129, 137, and 107 respectively, but the Royals’ OPS+ as a team is 86.
Fifth Place: Chicago White Sox (28-56, 24.5 GB)
Top Position Player: Chase Meidroth (1.1 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Shane Smith (1.3 fWAR)
The motto of the 2025 Chicago White Sox should be “We’re not as bad as the Rockies!”