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/noahtristerFake Rockies Jerseys . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. Stitched Rockies Jerseys . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. https://www.cheaprockiesjerseys.us/ . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Rockies Jerseys 2019 . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. Colorado Rockies Shirts . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week.AUBURN, Ala. -- A woman who accused former Auburn tight end Landon Rice of rape has asked a judge to dismiss a protective order against him without prejudice.The woman filed the request in Lee County Circuit Court on Wednesday.A hearing on a judges temporary protective order is scheduled for Oct. 4. The filing said Rice has not attempted to contact the woman directly or indirectly since the order was issued on Sept. 15 and that Rices lawyers have said he would not attend any university events or come onto the campus.Rices attorneys filed a response saying the order should be dismissed with prejudice because the woman had no grounds to file for a protective order.dddddddddddd. They said the defense side does not represent that Defendant voluntarily agrees not to be present on Auburns campus or attend any University events.Auburn has dismissed the freshman from the team. Rice hasnt been charged.The AP does not name alleged victims in sexual assault cases. ' ' '