On guard

The fans' immediate reaction to the suddenly-unstoppable Indians appears to be guarded optimism.
The last time the Indians closed to within a game of the Twins, it was August of last year, and they lost a heartbreaker to Minnesota the very next day. That loss started an eight-game losing streak that sealed the season's fate.
The Indians have very obviously been playing their butts off for the last two weeks. They have swept their last three series at home, and their last three series overall. But one can't get around the fact that the current nine-game winning streak has come entirely against the National League. Cleveland has just one more interleague series left, against Cincinnati this coming weekend.
The Indians have absolutely bludgeoned the NL this season, going 13-2. If they make it to the World Series, I'll put them down for their first World Series title in 57 years right then.
But take away the record against the NL, and they are 24-28 against the American League, their opponents in 144 of their 162 regular-season games this year.
And we still have yet to get back to divisional play. The Twins and White Sox account for the only two series losses in the past three weeks. As I have mentioned before, divisional opponents have given the Indians fits in recent years. They are 9-13 this season, and with the unbalanced schedule, they will face the White Sox, Twins, Tigers and Royals a total of 76 times this year. That's almost half the season.
There is no way around winning divisional games. You must if you want to contend in baseball. That's how the schedule is set up.
I shouldn't be this skeptical. I shouldn't be looking a gift horse in the mouth like this. The Indians still have the best record in baseball over the span of the past five weeks, going 25-12 since May 9. That stretch covers more than a couple intradivisional series.
I just know the Indians can't encounter too much more adversity in their season. They've fought valiantly to get back into the wild card race, and maybe to have an outside shot at the AL Central title. But when you start off as badly as Cleveland did in April, you force yourself to run just a little faster, work just a little harder for the rest of the season. If the Indians slip, even for a couple of series, fall double figures back in the division and give the Twins some breathing room again, they're going to need even more wins in an even shorter time frame to keep their playoff hopes alive.
It's June, but for the Indians, it's already the second half.