The Chicago White Sox will try to maintain their recent success when they open a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Monday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.Chicago (55-82) has endured a difficult season but has played much better in the past few weeks. The White Sox are coming off a dominant 8-0 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday and have won seven of 10 Nick Castellanos Jersey , 13 of 19 and 18 of 30.“The second half has just been a whole different team,” said Daniel Palka, a rookie outfielder who slugged his 20th home run of the season in the series finale against Boston. “Same guys, things are just clicking more consistently.Article continues below ...“We are good despite what the record is. We are playing our best right now, and it’s showing off with these series records.”Meanwhile, Detroit (55-82) comes to town sliding in the opposite direction. The Tigers have lost seven of their past nine but looked better Sunday with an 11-7 win over the New York Yankees.Nicholas Castellanos shined in the victory by going 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs. He leads the team with 20 homers.Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer (3-10, 4.71 ERA) will aim for his first victory since June 14 when he takes the mound for his 22nd start. Fulmer is 0-5 with a 5.90 ERA in his past seven starts but is feeling healthy after a stint on the disabled list.“Just glad to be back,” Fulmer recently said to the Detroit Free Press. “Everything felt good (the last outing) — that’s the big thing. Mechanics still need some repetition, but for the most part, everything was a little better than it has been all year.”In seven career starts against the White Sox, Fulmer is 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA. He has walked 12 and fanned 28 in 42 2/3 innings.The White Sox will counter with right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (5-9, 4.51 ERA), who will make his 28th start of the season. The 24-year-old is coming off one of his best performances of the year after limiting the Yankees to one run and five hits in seven innings.Lopez is 1-1 with a 3.58 ERA in six career starts against the Tigers. He has walked 14 and struck out 21 in 37 2/3 innings.White Sox manager Rick Renteria said he was proud of the way his team has played as of late.“I think for all of us, the team, myself http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-james-mccann-jersey , the whole organization, we should feel really good about how they’re going about doing their business,” Renteria said. “I think we’ve talked about hopefully having them settle in and get a feel of who they are and what they’re capable of doing. We’ve played two pretty strong offensive clubs (in New York and Boston).“The pitching, I still believe that on any given club, the pitching is the key to allowing you to have a chance to win. You get some timely hitting and or catch the ball, which you should, and minimize mistakes, you always give yourself a chance. Right now, our guys are doing a lot of those things.” CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs are closing in on the NL Central championship and have their sights set on another deep playoff run.It sure would help if Kyle Hendricks keeps pitching like this. They’ll take a few more big home runs from Kris Bryant, too.Hendricks went eight innings in another strong start, Bryant connected and the Cubs moved closer to the division title while dealing another hit to St. Louis’ playoff hopes, beating the Cardinals 8-4 on Friday.“This is what you look for,” Hendricks said. “These are the games you want to play in, games that have meaning like this. That’s why we play the game. Hopefully, we’ve got a lot of these left.”The Cubs came into the final weekend of the regular season with a franchise-record fourth straight trip to the postseason assured and their third division title in a row in sight. They remained one game ahead of Milwaukee Shane Greene Jersey , which beat Detroit 6-5 on Friday night.The Cubs can clinch the NL Central on Saturday — and home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs — with a win and a Brewers loss.St. Louis matched a season high with its fourth straight loss, after being swept by Milwaukee this week. The Cardinals trail Los Angeles by two games for the second NL wild card after the Dodgers won 3-1 in San Francisco late Friday night.With two games remaining, one more St. Louis loss or Los Angeles win would eliminate the Cardinals from postseason contention.“Clearly the back is completely against the wall,” manager Mike Shildt said.Hendricks (14-11) gave up two runs and seven hits . The right-hander is 5-1 with a 1.52 ERA in his past seven outings and has thrown a career-high 199 innings.“He’s pitched with his best stuff since I’ve known him,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “There’s not many strikeouts, not a lot of swing-and-misses. But the velocity on the fastball, he’s back to the weaker contact in general. He looks strong. … I just see a stronger version of Kyle.”Bryant made it 3-0 with a long solo drive to center against Adam Wainwright in the fourth.That gave the 2016 NL MVP just two homers in 27 games and 13 total in a season marked by injuries. Bryant missed the previous two games because of a bruised left wrist after getting hit by a pitch and was on the disabled list two times this year because of left shoulder inflammation.Daniel Murphy had two hits, two runs and an RBI. He singled and scored in a two-run first, doubled and came around in the fifth, and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh.Anthony Rizzo had an RBI single and sacrifice fly.Albert Almora drove in two with a single against Dominic Leone to cap a three-run eighth, making it 8-2, and the Cubs won their third in a row after losing four of six.“We’ve been here before,” Bryant said, referring to three straight appearances in the NLCS and a World Series championship in 2016 that ended a drought dating to 1908. “We’ve been under pressure situations. I think we know how to handle it.”Wainwright (2-4) is now 11-3 lifetime at Wrigley Field. He lasted five innings, allowing four runs and five hits Sparky Anderson Jersey , in what could be his final start for the Cardinals. Though he didn’t sound like a player ready to walk away, the three-time All-Star has an expiring contract and was on the disabled list three times this season because of hamstring and elbow injuries.“If you had asked me that question about two months ago, I would have already checked out on you,” Wainwright said. “But the way I’m feeling right now, if that is my last start, it would be kind of hard to walk away knowing the way I’m feeling right now.”TRAINER’S ROOMCubs: Manager Joe Maddon said he wasn’t sure if reliever Pedro Strop (strained left hamstring) will pitch this weekend. The right-hander still feels some discomfort on the landing throwing off the mound. Strop has been sidelined since Sept. 13, when he was hurt running to first on a double-play grounder at Washington. … The Cubs activated C Bobby Wilson, who was acquired Aug. 30 from Minnesota on Friday. The Twins placed him on the 10-day disabled list Aug. 24 because of a sprained right ankle.UP NEXTCardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (17-4, 2.94 ERA) looks to win his fifth straight start, after holding San Francisco to two runs and two hits in seven innings on Sunday.Cubs: LHP Cole Hamels (4-2, 2.47) tries to shake off back-to-back losses after going 4-0 in his first nine starts for Chicago following a trade from Texas. He homered against Pittsburgh on Monday but got outpitched by Jameson Taillon.