Many things have changed since July 31, when Kansas City sat at 49-55, 12 games back from division-leading Cleveland. The Indians have struggled to a 13-14 record in August, and second-place Detroit has done little better at 12-13. At 19-7, the Royals have cut 6.5 games off the division lead in just 28 days.
Pitching has everything to do with it. In July, Kansas City’s pitchers ranked 28th out of 30 teams with a 5.27 ERA. Entering Monday’s series with the New York Yankees, the Royals were tied with Chicago Cubs with the best August ERA at 2.