Here's why Guardians own one of MLB's best records

This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Guardians are the best team in Major League Baseball.

After tying their season-best seven-game winning streak on Tuesday, Cleveland improved its record to 51-26. That .662 winning percentage is tops in the Majors.

How did we get here? Well, we’re nearly halfway through the season and the answers are still the same as they were on Opening Day: Steven Kwan, José Ramírez, David Fry, Josh Naylor and the bullpen.

Let's break it all down.

Kwan

MLB released the latest All-Star Ballot update on Monday, and Kwan (973,401 votes) was fourth in the American League, 29,402 votes behind the Astros' Kyle Tucker. Phase 1 of voting ends on Thursday at noon ET.

It almost seems criminal that Kwan wouldn't be a starter after what he’s done this season. The only thing working against Kwan is that he’s not quite a qualified hitter yet, but that is because of a month-long stint on the IL due to a left hamstring injury. He entered Tuesday sitting just 13 plate appearances away from the qualified mark.

Outside of that, Kwan has done everything he can to crack into the top three. The Yankees' Aaron Judge and Juan Soto have had outstanding seasons. It makes sense that they’re in the first two slots. But Kwan doesn't fall too far behind, given his success since returning from the IL.

Kwan is hitting .385 (well ahead of anyone else in the Majors with at least 220 plate appearances) with a career-high seven homers, as well as 24 RBIs and a 1.006 OPS. He's also hitting .415 against lefties this season, which ranks as the second-best mark in the Majors among hitters with at least 60 plate appearances against southpaws (Adley Rutschman, .416).

J-Ram

There’s a reason why Ramírez (1,426,755 votes) is running away with the AL third-base race. He had a lead of 580,403 votes over the Orioles' Jordan Westburg in Monday’s update, and that was before he took sole passion of third place for the most homers in Cleveland franchise history (236), surpassing Manny Ramirez with his 21st blast of the year. And if it wasn’t for Judge’s grand slam on Tuesday, Ramírez's 72 RBIs would be more than any other hitter in the league. For now, he trails Judge by three.

Whether it’s via the long ball, his elite baserunning, his timely base knocks or simply his leadership, the Guardians would not be where they are without Ramírez.

Fry

Ah, yes, the biggest surprise of the Guardians' season. Just when you think Fry is finally starting to cool off, he does something to remind you that his bat is as reliable as ever. His .309 average, eight homers, 32 RBIs and .946 OPS has him in third place (706,262 votes) among designated hitters on the All-Star Ballot. Fry trailed Giancarlo Stanton by 10,761 votes on Monday, which is well within reach before Thursday’s deadline.

Not only has Fry found a way to get the timely hit whenever the Guardians need him, but his dominance against lefties has been critical for a lineup in need of right-handed hitters. He owns a 1.168 OPS against southpaws, which ranks second among hitters with at least 60 plate appearances vs. lefties. Only the Red Sox's Tyler O’Neill (1.229) has done better.

On Tuesday, Fry delivered once again, serving an RBI double into left field off Baltimore lefty Cole Irvin.

Naylor

Maybe Naylor hasn’t been as dominant as he was the first few weeks of the season, but this is the power bat the organization has been looking for to plug into the middle of the order. Naylor is the perfect threat to place behind Ramírez in the lineup, and he’s already matched his career high in homers (20) through just 73 games. As of Monday, Naylor (792,354 votes) was in third place among AL first basemen, which means he would not make the cut for Phase 2 unless he could make up some serious ground on the Orioles' Ryan Mountcastle (1,400,373) and the Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1,338,688).

The 'pen

These guys aren’t selected to the All-Star Game by a fan vote, so we don’t have numbers to prove their worthiness of being honored at the Midsummer Classic, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the Guardians' relievers are one of the main reasons why the team enters Wednesday with the best record in MLB.

Cleveland's bullpen leads the Majors with a 2.34 ERA, way ahead of the second-place Dodgers (3.02). It's the lowest bullpen ERA by a team since the 1981 Yankees (2.26).