Guardians overtake Tigers for 1st place after being 15.5 out in July

The Cleveland Guardians' September miracle continued Wednesday, as they beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1 to take sole possession of first place in the AL Central for the first time since April 22.

The Guardians have already clinched the tiebreaker against the Tigers.

The Guardians were 15 1/2 games out of first place July 8. If they hold on to win the division, it will mark the largest deficit ever overcome to win either a division title or league pennant. The previous record was a 15-game deficit overcome by the 1914 NL champion Boston Braves.

Cleveland was 10 1/2 back of Detroit on Sept. 3. Since then, the Guardians have won 17 of 20 to vault into the division lead and the AL's No. 3 seed.

The Tigers, meanwhile, are now mired in an eight-game losing streak and have dropped 13 of 16 since Sept. 3. While they're no longer atop the division, they continue to hold the AL's final wild-card spot by just a half-game over the Astros, who play the A's later tonight. Detroit owns the tiebreaker versus Houston.