NEWS » Sebastian Grosjean.Rosbergs 29th ca

The Cleveland Indians are closing in on the AL Central title for one big reason.When theyve faced the Detroit Tigers head to head this year, its been no contest.Cleveland has won 13 of 15 against the second-place Tigers this season, and although Detroit prevailed Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep in the teams most recent series, the Indians lead the division by seven games. Clevelands head-to-head supremacy accounts for that entire margin and then some.This race is the reverse of what happened in 2013, when the Tigers went 15-4 against Cleveland and edged the Indians by one game atop the AL Central. In fact, during Detroits four-year run of division titles from 2011-14, the Tigers took advantage of their head-to-head opportunities against whichever team finished second.Detroit went 12-6 against Cleveland in 2011, 12-6 against the Chicago White Sox in 2012 and 13-6 against Kansas City in 2014. Throw in the dominant mark against Cleveland in 2013, and thats a winning percentage of .703 (52-22) for the Tigers over four years against the second-place finishers those seasons.Its come full circle this year. Detroit hasnt been able to solve Cleveland, which is why the Tigers are essentially playing for a wild card.Here are a few other developments from around baseball:ODD TEAM OUT?Forget all that talk about even-year magic. Right now, San Francisco has to worry about making the playoffs at all. The Giants are 22-37 since July 12 and are struggling to hold on to a wild card. Theyll send Madison Bumgarner to the mound against Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers on Monday night.San Francisco leads St. Louis by one game for the second wild card.MAGIC NUMBERSThe Cubs could be joined by a couple more division champions soon. The Texas Rangers magic numbers are five to eliminate Seattle and four to eliminate Houston from the AL West title chase.Washingtons magic number is six to take back the NL East crown from the New York Mets. Clevelands is seven to put away Detroit in the AL Central.HOME RUN RACEOn the morning of June 19, Baltimores Mark Trumbo led the American League in home runs with 20. Minnesotas Brian Dozier had seven and hadnt hit any in nearly two weeks.Trumbo has kept on slugging and now leads the league with 43 homers, but Dozier has 41 thanks to an extended tear. The home run race is coming down to the wire -- Oaklands Khris Davis and Torontos Edwin Encarnacion have 40 each.FANTASY FOCUSIf youre looking to play matchups down the stretch with starting pitchers, the teams ranked lowest in OPS since the All-Star break are the Phillies, Padres, Royals and Marlins. Atlanta, which is all but assured of a last-place finish in the NL East, has actually hit decently in the second half and has scored 5.5 runs per game this month.LINE OF THE WEEKFrom the where-did-THAT-come-from file: Colorados Jon Gray struck out a franchise-record 16 in a four-hit shutout of San Diego on Saturday night. The Rockies won 8-0.Gray hadnt pitched more than 7 1/3 innings in a game all season.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtristerCheap College Jerseys . The players spoke Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. https://www.cheapnfljerseysjustwholesale.com/cheap-mlb-jerseys . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Cheap NFL Jerseys . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Cheap NBA Jerseys . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team.SINGAPORE -- Locked in an intense fight for the Formula One championship, and preparing for his 200th career start, Nico Rosberg pulled out a stunning lap to snatch pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday.Rosberg, who trails championship leader and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by two points, put himself in the best possible position for a third consecutive race victory by qualifying more than half a second faster than Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo in second.For my 200th appearance, definitely one of my top three laps ever, Rosberg said. It wasnt clear in qualifying how we would stack up against Red Bull so I really had to give it everything and pull it out of the bag, which is cool.Hamilton, who struggled relative to his teammate throughout practice at the Marina Bay street circuit, qualified third, seven-tenths of a second off Rosbergs time.Red Bulls Max Verstappen qualified fourth.Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen was fifth, and teammate Sebastian Vettel will start last in Sundays race after his car had an anti-roll bar failure in the Q1 session.I was a bit annoyed because first we decided to go for another lap but it wasnt really any quicker, said defending champion Vettel, a four-time winner in Singapore. Then we decided to pit to try and fix it but there was no time to do it.Though Rosbergs time was stunning, Red Bull retained confidence about its prospects of a race victory. Both Ricciardo and Verstappen will start the race on harder tires than Mercedes, so their first stint before pitting should be longer. That will allow them greater flexibility of strategy at a venue that has had safety car periods in all of its previous races.We are a bit surprised we are the only ones (on that tire strategy), Ricciardo said. We feel its a good thing but lets see if it makes a difference tomorrow.We have created a good opportunity by starting on the front row, and our race pace has been good (in practice). Track position and safety cars cann determine a lot here.ddddddddddddamilton struggled in practice, with several instances of missed braking points, tire lock-ups, and trips down escape roads.Its not been my weekend so far, Hamilton said. I havent been able to string them (laps) together.Ive been on the back foot all year long, so its really no different tomorrow, and Ill try to fight my way through.Verstappen was also unhappy with his rhythm during qualifying, complaining that he was unable to get sufficient heat in his tires despite the tropical conditions and high track temperatures. He was in better spirits during the final practice as he laughed over the team radio about almost hitting a large monitor lizard that scuttled across the circuit.Toro Rossos Carlos Sainz Jr. qualified sixth -- equaling his season best -- followed by teammate Daniil Kvyat in seventh.Force Indias Nico Hulkenberg qualified eighth and McLarens Fernando Alonso ninth. Force Indias Sergio Perez initially qualified 10th but received an eight-place grid penalty for setting his best time in the Q2 session while double-yellow caution flags were being waved following a crash into the barriers by Haas driver Sebastian Grosjean.Rosbergs 29th career pole took him level with the great Juan Manuel Fangio on the all-time list, and provided a fillip for his confidence on a track where he has never shown his best. This was his first pole in Singapore, where his best finish was second back in 2008, when he was with Williams.He paid credit to his team for being able to diagnose and overcome the problems that saw the team perform relatively poorly in qualifying here last year.We really came away and learned what went wrong last year, Rosberg said. We were nowhere in qualifying so it really shows the quality of the team to be able to turn something like that around and be so successful. ' ' '