As the American League Central nears the 50-game mark of the season, the Twins and Indians are atop the division, as expected by most, but with Minnesota's offense surpassing all expectations and Cleveland's lineup falling short, the gap between the division's two primary contenders has widened throughout the month.

Meanwhile, the Royals and White Sox have had excitement on offense while their young pitching staffs continue to sort out issues, and the Tigers' unproven rotation depth has led to a move down the standings.

Here's a look at one stat that illuminates why each of the teams are where they are in the standings as June quickly approaches.

Indians: Jose Ramirez's 60 wRC+

The Indians were, of course, built to be a pitching-first team this season, but they also needed Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez to maintain their MVP-caliber production to anchor an offense lacking in proven talent.

Though Lindor's .862 OPS has been a welcome addition to the lineup following his speedy return from a left ankle sprain, the 60 wRC+ posted by Ramirez, who has finished third in American League Most Valuable Player Award voting in the last two seasons, simply won't cut it for an Indians offense that has shown improvement in May but is in dire need of consistent production outside Lindor and Carlos Santana.

With the Tribe's vaunted starting rotation still missing Mike Clevinger and Corey Kluber, an offense that ranks second-to-last in the AL in slugging percentage (.366) and third-to-last in wOBA (.294) needs more production from Ramirez to keep pace with the Twins.

Royals: 190 walks by the pitching staff

Though the last-place Royals have fielded a largely league-average offense behind Hunter Dozier's breakout season and strong starts from Whit Merrifield, Adalberto Mondesi and Alex Gordon, the Kansas City pitching staff's lack of command has held the team back. The Royals' 190 walks are second-most in the AL, which has contributed to a collective .351 on-base percentage against Kansas City pitching this season, the second-worst mark in the Junior Circuit.

For now, the Royals hope that some of the wildness can largely be attributed to some growing pains from some of their younger starters -- Brad Keller, Jakob Junis and Jorge Lopez.

"I hope that’s all it is," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We've seen them have the ability to command the zone. They’ve done it at times, just not consistently enough. ... And it's not just the walks. It’s falling behind in the count way too often and putting themselves in hitters’ counts."

Tigers: 6.15 starters' ERA in May

Matthew Boyd, Daniel Norris, Spencer Turnbull and the Tigers' starting rotation helped support a struggling offense as the Tigers stayed afloat around .500 into mid-May, but with injuries to Tyson Ross and Jordan Zimmermann forcing Ryan Carpenter and Gregory Soto into starting roles, Detroit's rotation has posted MLB's third-worst ERA in May as the club has dropped 10 of its last 12 games and fallen to fourth in the division.

In turn, the Detroit bullpen has also posted a 6.86 ERA in May -- second-worst in the American League -- despite Shane Greene's AL-leading 15 saves. They also haven't gotten much help from the offense, which has an AL-worst .362 slugging percentage and .280 wOBA.

Twins: 10.8% team barrel rate

The Twins are blowing away their previous franchise record home run pace with 90 homers through the first two months of the season, and the underlying reason is exactly what you'd expect: quite simply, the Twins are squaring up the ball far more often than any other club in baseball, with their team barrel rate more than a full percentage point ahead of the second-place Braves at 9.7%.

Remarkably, 11 of the 16 hitters that have stepped in the batter's box for the Twins this season -- everybody but Willians Astudillo, Ehire Adrianza, Jake Cave, Marwin Gonzalez and Max Kepler -- have barrel rates higher than the Major League average of 7.9%.

Many of those barreled balls have left the yard -- that's why the Twins are second in baseball in homers. Even when those hits don't carry over the fence, they're finding gaps -- that's why the Twins lead the Majors with 196 extra-base hits.

White Sox: 2.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio by the pitching staff

Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, James McCann and Yoan Moncada have produced plenty on offense, but the White Sox have struggled to fill out their starting rotation this season behind an effective Lucas Giolito following Michael Kopech's Tommy John surgery last September and midseason injuries to both Opening Day starter Carlos Rodon and Manny Banuelos.

Ervin Santana wasn't the answer, as the 36-year-old veteran was designated for assignment after making just three starts on the South Side. Meanwhile, both Reynaldo Lopez and Ivan Nova have struggled with command and keeping the ball in the yard, while Dylan Covey, who has made four starts, has more than twice as many walks (16) as strikeouts (7).

The back end of the bullpen has been effective, but add it all up, and the Sox are in a four-way tie for the worst strikeout-to-walk ratio, have the second-to-worst WHIP in baseball and the highest walk rate in the MLB (10.6%).