Chicago's pitching picture isn't clean either. Both catchers, Kyle Teel and Joey Bart, are out, and the White Sox are piecing together a bullpen with multiple arms on the injured list. None of that has stopped the kids from playing well, which is the actual story here.
Two games in this set still have to be played before Sunday, so whatever shape either club is in by the time first pitch rolls around could look different than it does today. But the season-long picture is stark: Minnesota went out and added Jeff Hoffman and A.J. Minter at the deadline to make a playoff push, and instead of climbing, they've fallen under .500 and out of the race. Chicago, picked to lose 100 games again, is above .500 in late August behind a young core that manager Will Venable has gotten to play loose.
None of it changes what this weekend is: two AL Central clubs playing out a long summer, one quietly building something, the other watching a deadline gamble not pay off yet.