August may be described as the "dog days" -- hot, tiring, and, for contending teams, the toughest month to get through before adrenaline kicks in for a September run.

But August can be interesting, even for the teams that are not gunning for postseason positioning. That's because milestones and records are often in play. While it's still a little too early for a player to have reached any of the single-season feats he may be eyeing, we're deep enough into the season to be able to at least envision some of these cool marks, both individual and team-wide, becoming a reality.

In the American League Central division, there are several milestones to keep an eye on:

Indians: Perez chases catching record
Roberto Pérez has been a pleasant surprise for the Indians, launching 19 homers so far. He took it upon himself to go to the Dominican League over the winter to get everyday at-bats to be ready for his first time as a starter after they traded Yan Gomes, and it’s certainly paid off. If he can somehow hit seven more homers, he would have the most in team history by a catcher. The record of 25 is currently held by John Romano in 1962.

From the pitching side, if Shane Bieber reaches 200 innings, he will be the youngest Indians pitcher to hit 200 in innings pitched and strikeouts since Sam McDowell in 1968.

-- Mandy Bell

Royals: Pass the baton -- Balboni to Moustakas to Soler
For 32 years, the Royals' single-season home run record of 36 by Steve Balboni stood. Then Mike Moustakas broke it with 38 homers in 2017.

Now, Jorge Soler seems on the verge of shattering Moustakas’ record. Soler hit seven home runs on the team’s recent 10-game road trip and now has 35. Soler was named the AL Player of the Week.

Soler, through interpreter Pedro Grifol, said last Saturday he hadn’t thought much about the record. Three homers later on Sunday afternoon, he admitted that all players like to break records.

Manager Ned Yost also said he hadn’t been paying attention to the record. But after last Sunday’s game, the record chase had his attention. "He's going to break it, so it doesn’t matter whether I pay attention or not," Yost said.

-- Jeffrey Flanagan

Tigers: Trying to avoid the wrong side of history
The Tigers' struggles since mid-May have put their standards of futility from 2003 in play. Detroit set an American League record with 119 losses that year, barely avoiding the expansion 1962 Mets' 120-loss record by winning six of its last seven games. Most online projections tab this year's Tigers with a 110-loss season based partly on strength of schedule, including four games at home against the Orioles in mid-September. But another swoon along the lines of their 4-28 stretch from mid-June into late July could put this club on a 120-loss watch.

Even if Detroit avoids that mark, it could still become the first team in modern Major League history to lose 60 home games in a season. The 1939 St. Louis Browns went 18-59 at home. In a strange twist, one of the Tigers' remaining home games will take place in Oakland, where they'll complete a suspended game from May 19. The A's took a 5-3 lead in the top of the seventh inning. The three batters due up when the game resumes Sept. 6 are all inactive. Josh Harrison was released last week, Grayson Greiner is on the 60-day IL with back issues and JaCoby Jones is expected to miss the rest of the season with a fractured left wrist.

-- Jason Beck

Twins: The chase for the single-season home run record
At this point, it's really less a question of _if_ the Twins will break this record as much as it is a matter of when the self-proclaimed "Bomba Squad" will surpass the 267 homers clubbed by the 2018 Yankees to establish the single-season mark for most homers by a team in Major League history.

The Twins entered Thursday with 233 long balls, a pace of 1.94 per game, which would put them on track to break the Yankees' record -- rather fittingly -- at Fenway Park in the first week of September. If they maintained that pace, they would become the first team ever to 300 homers during their final home series of the season in late September.

Need another homer-related chase to keep your eye on? The Twins already have five players with 20 or more bombs (Max Kepler, Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario, Mitch Garver and Miguel Sanó). It appears quite likely that C.J. Cron (19 homers) and Jorge Polanco (17) will join them to tie the record of seven such players on a roster, and Jonathan Schoop (16) or Marwin Gonzalez (14) could be the eighth man to push the Twins to the top.

-- Do-Hyoung Park

White Sox: Tim Anderson: Multiple 20-20 seasons
There was a time earlier this season when Anderson looked as if he was going to become the first player in franchise history to record 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season. But a high right ankle sprain suffered in Boston kept him out of action from June 26 through July 29. So, Anderson is looking to join Alex Rios (2010, ’12) as the only White Sox player to record multiple seasons of 20-plus home runs and 20-plus stolen bases. Anderson has just one stolen base since June 2, but currently sits at 12 homers and 16 stolen bases. He had 20 homers and 26 stolen bases in '18.

-- Scott Merkin