We’d been tracking the Tigers, but since the Twins play the White Sox and Royals before heading to Detroit, we’ll include them on this list, too. Here are 10 quick things to know about the AL Central heading into the second-to-last week.

1) The Tigers are off today. This is their final open date of the season. So the Twins will be 2.5 or 3.5 games back after tonight, and the number will become round again Thursday, when the Twins have their final open date of the season.

2) The White Sox are toast. Trailing the Tigers by 6 1/2 games, they do control their own fate because they have six games remaining with Detroit, but Chicago basically sealed the coffin by losing four of its past five games.

3) RHP Daniel Hudson, 22, will make his first major league start for Chicago tonight against the Twins. The White Sox drafted him in the fifth round last year out of Old Dominion, the same school that produced Justin Verlander. The 6-4 Hudson has had a Matt Garza-like rise through the Sox farm system this year, racing from Class A, to Class AA to Class AAA and now the majors. In those three minor-league stops, he combined to go 14-5 with a 2.32 ERA with 166 Ks and 34 BBs in 147.1 IP.

On Aug. 20, Baseball America’s Ben Badler wrote about Hudson in his Daily Dish, and scouts described a 90-93 mph fastball, an above-average change-up and a solid 81-86 mph slider. Hudson has made three relief appearances for the White Sox since his September callup, allowing 3 ER and 6 H with 0 BB and 4 Ks in 5.2 IP.

4) In the Detroit Free Press, John Lowe suggests Sunday’s Tigers victory might have been their biggest road win since Game 1 of the 2006 ALCS over Oakland, noting that Nate Robertson and Placido Polanco played big roles in each.

5) Neat to hear how the Tigers rallied around Don Kelly, who lost Orlando Cabrera’s fly ball in the Metrodome roof on Saturday. In this piece, he says every member of the team came up and said something encouraging.

6) Guessing the atmosphere tonight at U.S. Cellular Field will be far less raucous than the one Nick Blackburn experienced last Sept. 30, in that one-game tiebreaker. In this piece, the Chicago Tribune’s Dave van Dyck describes Sunday’s announced crowd of 22,798 as “widely scattered and very quiet.”

7) Meanwhile, the Royals are 10-3 in their past 13 games, again relishing their role as September spoilers.

8 ) Robinson Tejeda is wreaking havoc on the AL Central, and his next start would likely come Friday against the Twins. Tejeda, who defeated Detroit in his two previous starts, made it three straight wins Sunday, holding the White Sox to 1 R and 3 H in 6 IP. As Bob Dutton notes in the Kansas City Star, Tejeda has allowed just 2 R and 9 H in 22.1 IP since replacing sore-shouldered Gil Meche.

9) Cy Young candidate Zack Greinke remained on track to pitch Tuesday against Boston, after taking a line drive off his right forearm. That would keep Greinke in line to pitch Sunday against the Twins, who have somehow avoided facing him all season. LHP Lenny DiNardo, who pitches tonight against Boston, would be the likely Saturday starter against the Twins.

10) Finally, the KC Star’s national baseball writer, Sam Mellinger, adds to the Joe Mauer-for-MVP conversation with an interesting point about the 22 games Mauer missed in April. Figure a catcher plays just 18 of those games, if you saddle Mauer’s otherworldly numbers with replacement-level production for those 18 games, he STILL would be hitting .356/.422/.580, which STILL would give him the modern Triple Crown.

Note: La Velle is our point man in Chicago, so head to his blog for tonight’s starting lineups, etc. For a series preview, click here. I’ll be on the KC and Detroit legs of this make-or-break trip for the Twins.

We have all kinds of material previewing the Twins/Tigers series, so be sure to check these links. Meanwhile, this recurring list of things to know about the Tigers is getting shorter, along with their AL Central lead:

1) Detroit’s home/road success mirrors the Twins’. The Tigers are 48-26 at home and 30-42 on the road. That’s why it’s so important for the Twins to take advantage this weekend. I don’t believe they need a sweep to stay alive, but they do need to win the series.

2) The Tigers rank 11th in the American League in runs scored, at 4.6 per game. The Twins rank sixth at 4.9. So the Tigers haven’t scored like the Twins, and suddenly their rotation is riddled with questions, too. Rick Porcello, who pitches tonight, has been their hottest starter, and Saturday’s starter Justin Verlander remains a force. But after that, the Tigers are rolling the dice. Consider:

a) Jarrod Washburn was 4-1 with a 1.44 ERA in July, earning AL pitcher of the month honors for Seattle. When Detroit traded for him, it seemed like a real slap in the face for the Twins. But Washburn is 1-3 with a 7.33 ERA for the Tigers and has allowed 12 homers in 43 innings. Clearly, Washburn hasn’t been healthy. He was scratched from Sunday’s start and is out indefinitely. In his place is fellow lefty Nate Robertson.

b) The Tigers had just scrapped an experiment of re-inserting Robertson into the rotation after pelvic inflammation caused him to leave a start after 3 2/3 innings. At the time, Manager Jim Leyland said he was putting Eddie Bonine in the rotation just to eliminate the uncertainty of Robertson’s availability. Now, the Tigers are moving forward with both of them. They could skip Bonine on Monday, but that is their final open date of the season.

c) Edwin Jackson was a first-half revelation, going 7-4 with a 2.52 ERA and making the All-Star team. But he is 2-2 with a 6.03 ERA in his past five starts and appears to be hitting the wall. Right now, he is to the Tigers what Nick Blackburn is to the Twins. Jackson took the loss Thursday, as the Royals pounded the Tigers 9-2. Afterward, Leyland sounded concerned, telling the Detroit Free Press, “Seems like he’s pitched quite a few games without all his ammunition. He really hasn’t had his breaking stuff on any consistent basis for quite a while.”

3) The Tigers have committed just one error in their past 15 games. Shortstop Adam Everett has helped solidify their defense. Twins fans might roll their eyes at that, but his right shoulder was killing him last season, so he never got to show them the player he was for Houston. “He’s been a real special player for us,” Leyland told the Detroit News this week.

4) The above links point to the success some of the Twins have had against the Tigers, but there’s another side to that. Placido Polanco is a .324 career hitter against the Twins, and Carlos Guillen .310. Then there’s Magglio Ordonez, who has played 162 career games against the Twins — the equivalent of a full season — and has batted .326 with 35 HR and 128 RBI. You say, “Well he’s not a power hitter anymore.” But tell that to Francisco Liriano, who gave up a three-run shot to Ordonez on July 4, turning a 2-0, seventh-inning lead into a 3-2 deficit.

Note: Should be an exciting weekend. Check back here this afternoon for tonight’s starting lineups and other tidbits.

I’d change the headline, but Detroit’s lead over the Twins hasn’t changed since last Wednesday, when Carl Pavano outpitched Roy Halladay and the Tigers blew a late lead against the Royals.

1) Detroit’s magic number to clinch the AL Central is 15. The Tigers (76-66) lead the Twins (71-72) by six in the loss column. Normally that favors the team in front, but in this division, it seems a team has a better chance of gaining ground when sitting idle, hoping the other team loses.

2) RHP Eddie Bonine will start Wednesday against Kansas City, in place of LHP Nate Robertson, as the Detroit Free Press reports today. Robertson left Friday’s start with pelvic inflammation and will now move to the bullpen. Bonine has posted a 6.11 ERA in seven appearances this year, including one start.

3) Justin Verlander (16-8, 3.24) pitches tonight, as the Tigers finish a four-game series against the Blue Jays. David Purcey (0-2, 7.01 ERA) pitches for Toronto. On paper, that looks like a mismatch, but so did Verlander/Robinson Tejeda last Wednesday, and the Royals won that one. Verlander’s next start, after tonight, will come Saturday against the Twins.

4) The Tigers are lined up to pitch Rick Porcello (13-8), Verlander and Jarrod Washburn (9-8) against the Twins next weekend at the Dome. The Twins plan to skip Jeff Manship’s start on Thursday and counter with Brian Duensing (3-1), Carl Pavano (12-11) and Scott Baker (13-8). While some young pitchers are hitting the wall, Porcello seemed to have a lot left in his tank Sunday, as George Sipple writes.

5) In this piece breaking down Detroit’s remaining schedule, John Lowe notes that Joe Nathan has converted all 28 of his career save chances against the Tigers, and Pavano has won all four of his career starts against Detroit, posting a 1.48 ERA. Remember, after a three-game series against Kansas City that concludes Thursday, the Tigers will play 13 of their final 16 games against the Twins and White Sox.

5 1/2) The Tigers had a six-game winning streak before going on a five-game losing streak, which they finally snapped Sunday. “It was a week ago [Sunday] that, oh, we were the darlings,” Jim Leyland said in this Free Press piece. “We’re on a roll. ‘Oh, the Tigers are great.’ Everybody thought we were great. Then all of a sudden we end up losing three to Kansas City and all of a sudden the Tigers are bad. Obviously we needed to get some wins, there’s no question about that. You learn over the years to roll with the punches.”

Note: Tonight, the Twins open a three-game series with Cleveland. Here’s the series preview. Head to La Velle’s blog for the starting lineups and other assorted pregame jottings.

From today’s coverage by John Lowe in the Detroit Free Press, summing up the Royals three-game sweep of the Tigers in Kansas City:

1) They’ll miss Roy Halladay in their upcoming four-game series against Toronto. Even though Halladay’s turn to pitch would be Monday, the Blue Jays are giving him some extra rest. Of course, the Tigers just caught the same break with Zack Greinke and still got swept.

2) Jim Leyland won’t let them get complacent. The Tigers play Toronto and KC again before playing 13 of their final 16 against the Twins and White Sox. “If anybody starts believing how good they’ve been, the baseball gods will bite you,” Leyland said. “We’ve got a lot of baseball left before we play the two teams that are right behind us. So this is just beginning.”

3) Jarrod Washburn missed a turn to rest a sore left knee before holding the Royals to three runs over five innings Thursday. Leyland applauded the performance. Washburn said, “I felt today the same way I have. It’s painful — I’ll have to deal with it.”

4) Detroit’s bullpen allowed 11 earned runs in seven innings, during the KC series. “The bullpen had a terrible series, which can happen,” Leyland said. “They’ve done a fantastic job and will again.”

5) All-Star center fielder Curtis Granderson is batting just .182 against lefthanders.

5 1/2) Nate Robertson, who has replaced Armando Galarraga in the rotation, pitches tonight against Toronto at Comerica Park, where the Tigers are 45-22.

Note: Check back here this afternoon for tonight’s starting lineups, as the Twins open a three-game series with Oakland.

We interrupt the daily agony of following the Twins with a link to the best baseball story I’ve read all season. (Hat tip to MinnPost’s BrauBlog.)

(** Note, the former clubhouse leader for best baseball story all season was Lee Jenkins’ piece on Mark Buehrle’s perfect game in Sports Illustrated. That was a fun behind-the-scenes look at history, describing how the people closest to Buehrle experienced that day. The above story, by Todd C. Frankel in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is a tale that transcends sports. You’ll see Albert ”The Machine” Pujols in a very different light. )

OK, now that I’ve softened you up, here’s a more constructive way to follow the AL Central ”race” from K-Bro’s Baseball Blog. Kristen Brown’s plan is to donate two food shelf items for every Twins victory and one item for every Tigers loss the rest of the season.

For reverse psychologists, you could also pledge two items for every Twins loss and one for every Tigers victory. That way, even as the Twins get closer to elimination, you’ll be helping a good cause.