On July 3, this writer commented on an 18-1 run by the Minnesota Twins, pointing out that seldom has such a surge had so little impact on a pennant race. While the third-place Twins moved 10 games over .500 in that stretch, Detroit, the American League Central leader, had gone 17-3 and the second-place Chicago White Sox had posted a 15-5 mark. Two weeks earlier on June 19, this writer wrote off the improved Twins as a potential playoff team, but this morning, they are the leader in the wild-card chase after Wednesday night's win over the first-place Tigers and the White Sox's loss to the Yankees. Minnesota is a half-game up on the Sox and 1.5 games up on the Red Sox in the wild-card standings. The Twins have used a major league-best 40-12 surge since June 11 to overtake Boston, Chicago, Toronto and Oakland in winning percentage, and now only the Tigers and Yankees have a better record in the AL. For years, the AL Central was a weak sister in the league, but right now three teams -- the Tigers (76-38), Twins (67-46) and White Sox (66-46) -- are at least 20 games over .500. Only two other clubs in all of the majors -- the two teams in New York -- are 20 games over. There's a good chance the AL wild-card team will come out of the Central, and it should be a good fight down the stretch between the Twins, White Sox and AL East Red Sox.