At roughly the halfway point, some interesting W-L team comparisons between Detroit, Minnesota and our White Sox:

The Sox and Tigers, separated only by 1 1/2 games, have taken starkly different paths to their records. As some here have suspected, the Sox have a tendency to sometimes "play down" to the level of their weaker opponents (failing to finish off recent series, for example, against both Pittsburgh and the Flubs). Detroit, by contrast, is a beefy 14-0 vs. Seattle, KC and the Flubs.

As a Sox fan, one can look at the second half of the schedule optimistically or pessimistically; the Sox play 46 of their final 79 games against teams currently .500 or better. Should their first-half trend continue, they will be sitting pretty at the end of the season. However, Detroit plays only 33 of it's final 78 against teams currently over the .500 mark.

Finally, the two teams have 14 games against each other, which will (obviously) go a long way toward determining who will take the division.

The hard-charging Twins notwithstanding.