The American League Central contenders are playing as if the reward for winning the division was a pair of tickets to a Hannah Montana concert. Maybe the two clubs would be piling up more wins if finishing second meant free passes to an entire tour.

Instead, claiming the AL Central crown earns a chance to play October baseball, but neither the first-place Chicago White Sox nor the Minnesota Twins have been winning consistently.

After securing two victories from the American League West champion Angels to open a lengthy home stand in early September, the front-running White Sox have gone 6-8. Affter winning their series with the Angels, they lost three of four to Toronto at home, and began a road trip a week ago by losing three of four to the Yankees. The White Sox bounced back to take two of three from the Royals this weekend in Kansas City.

Meanwhile, the young Twins seem to be running out of gas. They began a road swing 10 days ago with a pair of victories over the Orioles, but have gone 2-6 since then. The Twins have been outscored 55-35 in those eight games, posting a 6.06 ERA along the way. They managed to split a four-game set in Florida this weekend, though they witnessed the equally young Rays claim the first playoff berth in franchise history at their expense.

One of these two AL Central teams has to win each of the next three nights. With the second-place Twins trailing by 2.5 games, they host the White Sox in the final three matchups of the season series. Minnesota is 7-8 against Chicago in 2008, though the Twins are 5-1 at home facing the Sox.

The Twins need a sweep, which would give them a half-game edge. Taking two out of three would leave them 1.5 games back, and force the Twins to depend on Cleveland winning its season-ending series in Chicago to stay in contention. If things go Minnesota’s way this week, the White Sox might have to make up a rainout with Detroit on Monday.

There isn’t much room for error, however, for Minnesota starters Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey, who face the White Sox this week. Only Slowey, who shut out the White Sox on six hits at the Metrodome on July 28, has had much success against Chicago.

The White Sox have led the AL Central for 144 days -- and for all but nine since May 17 -- but the lead hasn’t been more than 3.5 games since June 19. If it were to fall back to 3.5 games in Tuesday night’s series opener, it might be time to stick a fork in the Twins. They may be done.

Even if the Twins take two of three this week, a 1.5-game deficit may be too much to overcome. But that’s looking too far down the road. Starting tomorrow, it’s time to see if either club is ready to step up and play as if it could be something more than a whipping post for one of the other three playoff teams next week.