The Sox play Smartball...I prefer Luckball.

ESPN's Rob Neyer recently wrote about Chicago's impressive fortune in games in which they score three runs or fewer (what Neyer called games you're supposed to lose). I only caught the first paragraph or two of his article, since that's all they let the unwashed masses read for free (Neyer's only available through a premium subscription).

Anyway, that made me curious about the rest of the AL Central, so I tallied their records in games they're "supposed to lose." The table below includes each team's record in those games, their winning percentage in those games, and their record against their AL Central foes.

AL CentralTeamRecord When Scoring 3 or FewerWinning Pct.Overall Record vs. DivisionWhite Sox9-11.45022-5Twinkies3-20.13016-13Indians9-22.29013-19Tigers7-25.22011-11Royals4-30.1205-19

That's a pretty impressive advantage for the White Sox, especially over the second place Fighting LeCroys. The White Sox have a +7.5 game edge over the Twinkies in the "should lose" games, and a +2 game edge in head-to-head (after subtracting the "should lose" games that have already been counted).

The Sox have been brilliant against the rest of the Central, but in fairness, a lot of those wins have come against the Royals and Bob Wickman. They've only played the Twins five times and won't see them again until after the All-Star break.