AL Central

It's no secret that Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu has burst onto the scene, but the rate at which he's threatening first-year player records still comes as a bit of a surprise.

The Cleveland Indians have some work to do at the upcoming July 31 trade deadline. The team currently sits at 45-46, 7.5 games back of the division-leading Detroit Tigers and 3.5 games back of the Seattle Mariners for the second wild-card spot.

The rebuilding process in Chicago that general manager Rick Hahn began in earnest last year has already begun to pay dividends.

Are the Cleveland Indians contenders or pretenders?

It's an impossible question to answer, with the club hanging around the outskirts of the playoff race despite having a losing record and a negative run differential, which makes the Indians one of the more intriguing teams to follow as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline draws near.

Few teams in baseball have enjoyed the kind of recent success that the Detroit Tigers have.

Winners of three consecutive American League Central crowns, the Tigers have a legitimate chance to make it four in a row in 2014.

But a World Series title has remained elusive, and the pressure is on general manager Dave Dombrowski to figure out how to best position his club to claim baseball's biggest prize.

Kansas City's stay atop the American League Central standings last month may have been fleeting, but it was a sign that the Royals may finally be ready to break a nearly 30-year absence from postseason baseball.

While things haven't exactly gone as anyone associated with the Minnesota Twins would have liked in 2014, things aren't all doom and gloom.

One thing that can be said about the 2014 Chicago White Sox is that they have certainly been more fun to watch than they were last season, but then again that's not saying much.

In 2013 the White Sox were one of the worst offensive (or most offensive, depending how you look at it) teams in all of baseball, which made for some long days at U.S. Cellular Field. This ineptitude led general manager Rick Hahn to desperately start searching last off season for somebody, anybody, who could come in and help reignite the stagnant offense.

Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu slugged two home runs in Friday night's contest against the Toronto Blue Jays to become the first player in MLB history with 25 homers through the first 67 games of his career, per ESPN Stats & Info.