The Cleveland Guardians are still somehow alive in the race to win the American League Central this season, despite the fact that they have a sub .500 record at 47-48. While they haven't been getting great production from many of their players, one guy who has stepped up in recent weeks has been Josh Naylor.

Naylor has been putting together a strong season at the plate for the Guardians (.311 BA, 15 HR, 75 RBI, .875 OPS), but he has really turned things up a notch as of late. In fact, it's getting to the point where it's looking like the only hitter in the MLB who is hotter than Naylor right now is Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani, which is quite prestigious company for Naylor to have placed himself in.

Via Zack Meisel:

Over the last 10 weeks, Josh Naylor boasts a .380/.414/.650 slash line.

MLB leaders in OPS over that span:
1. Shohei Ohtani, 1.184 OPS
2. Josh Naylor, 1.064 OPS

With Cleveland's pitching staff, particularly their starting rotation, struggling with injuries, the lineup has had to step up for them recently, and Naylor has been leading the way for them to this point. To see him nearly going toe-to-toe with Ohtani, who appears to be in the process of putting together a historic campaign at the plate himself, is wildly impressive.

And yet, even with Naylor's hitting heroics, the Guardians are still sitting 1.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins in their division. The good news is that there is tons of time for them to close that gap, and if Naylor can continue hitting at this outrageous rate, there's a decent chance that Cleveland will still find their way into the 2023 MLB Playoffs.