White Sox continue to slay bums at a ridiculous level

Jose Abreu leads baseball with 48 RBIs.

Believe it or not (and I really don't), the White Sox have the best record in the American League entering Monday's play at 30-16. How did they get there? Well, they beat the living tar out of the three least talented teams in the central part of the country -- the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Sox beat the Tigers, 5-2, on Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field to complete a three-game sweep. The South Siders concluded the season series against Detroit at 9-1, and they improved to 21-3 in 24 games against the aforementioned bottom feeders.

21-3!

With 14 games to play, the Sox are one game ahead of the Minnesota Twins (30-18) in the American League Central Division, and 4.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians (26-21).

While the Twins and Indians both have winning records against the second-division teams, it's clear the Sox have done a much better job of slaying bums. 

Minnesota is having a strange season. The Twins are a remarkable 21-5 at home, but 9-13 on the road -- and they've been swept in a three-game series at *both* Kansas City and Detroit this year. Minnesota is in position to potentially win the division because it has gone 7-3 against Cleveland and 4-2 against the Sox, with four games left to play in Chicago this week.

Cleveland, meanwhile, is riding a six-game losing streak. The Indians inexplicably lost the last three games of a four-game series against Kansas City last week, then got swept by the Twins over the weekend. It's not looking too good for the Tribe right now, but they aren't out of the division race yet because they have four games remaining with the Tigers and three left with the Pirates. 

The Twins have two games left with the Tigers, as well, but they are done with the Royals and Pirates. The Sox are done slaying bums for the year, as they have the Twins, the Cincinnati Reds, the Indians and the Cubs remaining on their schedule.

Here's a breakdown of how the Sox, Twins and Indians have done against the worst teams on their respective schedules:

• Sox vs. Tigers: 9-1 
• Sox vs. Royals: 9-1
• Sox vs. Pirates: 3-1
• Sox vs. all the bums: 21-3

•  Twins vs. Tigers: 4-4
• Twins vs. Royals: 5-5
• Twins vs. Pirates: 3-1
• Twins vs. all the bums: 12-10 

• Indians vs. Tigers: 4-2
• Indians vs. Royals: 5-5
• Indians vs. Pirates: 3-0
• Indians vs. all the bums: 12-7 

So, the Sox are eight games better than the Twins when it comes to slaying bums, and 6.5 games better than the Indians. Without a doubt, this is the reason the Sox are in first place.

Still on the Sox's to-do list? They need to prove they can beat the other contenders in their division before the playoffs start. That 4-8 combined record against the Twins and Indians is unsightly.

The Sox are only two weeks removed from losing two out of three to the Twins in Minnesota, a series in which the South Siders committed eight errors in three games. That was ugly.

The opportunity for redemption comes Monday through Thursday this week, and as we mentioned, the Twins are almost unbeatable at home, but are mere mortals on the road. We'll see if the Sox can turn Minnesota away and protect their slim division lead.