The Cleveland Guardians are currently leading the AL Central Division by three games over the Kansas City Royals, as of games on Saturday. Based on winning percentage, they have the second-best record in the American League, trailing only the New York Yankees by .007 percentage points. But when you look at individual and team statistics, you wonder how they can be in this position.

The Guardians, under first-time manager Stephen Vogt, have led their division every day but four throughout the season. That’s pretty impressive, although many baseball analysts in past years would argue the Guardians play in the worst division in baseball. The cellar-dwelling Chicago White Sox, with only 34 wins to date, are often cited as being emblematic of the lack of competitiveness in the division.

When you look underneath the wins and losses, you scratch your head trying to figure out why they have the second-best record.

Offensively, the Guardians are barely above league average in Runs Scored Per Game (4.47). Division opponents Minnesota and Kansas City Royals are ahead of them.

They are below league average in Batting Average, On-Base Percentage, and On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage. Again, the Twins and Royals are ahead of them in all three measures.

When considering OPS+ (Weighted On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage), the Guardians are sixth (out of 15) from the bottom. Their OPS+ puts them just as close to the pathetic White Sox as they are to the league-leading Yankees.

Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor, David Fry, and Stephen Kwan are carrying the team offensively. All four were selected to the American League All-Star team this year. The Guardians are a young team, with a lot of inexperience. Ramirez is the elder statesman at age 31.

So, with their middle-of-the-pack offense, you turn your thoughts to their pitching staff as the main reason for having the second-best record in the AL.

Well, that’s partially true.

The Guardians’ Runs Allowed Per Game is impressive, with the second-lowest (3.96) in the American League, behind Seattle.

However, the Guardians starting pitching is last in the American League in Wins Above Average (WAA), actually pretty bad with a -4.9. (By comparison, the division-rival Royals lead the league with 8.8 WAA.) Only second-year player Tanner Bibee gives them a chance among the starters. They miss their ace, Shane Bieber, who pitched only two games in April before his season ended in the with an elbow injury.

But looking at WAA for just their relief pitchers, they are the main factor why the Guardians are leading the division. The Guardians relievers lead the league with 6.9 WAA. The next closest team is Tampa with a 2.8 WAA. This translates to the Guardians’ winning most of their games if they hold a lead in the late innings, even if by a small margin.

Closer Emmanuel Clase leads the Guardians’ bullpen staff. He’s having one of the best seasons for relievers in recent history. He currently owns a 0.667 ERA in 67 appearances, while compiling league-leading 44 saves. He has a 0.668 WHIP and has yielded only five earned runs in 67.1 innings.

Middle relievers Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and Tim Herris have ERAs below 2.07. The entire relief corps has been credited with only 10 of the Guardians’ 64 losses.

The Guardians are a pretty safe bet to make the playoffs. How does their team makeup position them for a playoff run?

If the Guardians can maintain a lead into the sixth inning, their bullpen has a good chance of holding the lead, especially when they get into the ninth inning when Clase takes over. But don’t expect much from their starters, which could lead to an overworked bullpen over the course of the playoffs.