CLEVELAND -- The White Sox entered a four-game series at Progressive Field on Monday holding the biggest division lead in the American League at 3 1/2 games over the Indians and tied with the Mets for the largest division gap in the Majors.

Their 32-20 record was tied with Boston for second best in the AL, and their 18-9 May mark was the fourth best overall during the month. All of this success has been accomplished without left fielder Eloy Jiménez and center fielder Luis Robert, making their overall excellence all the more impressive.

“We’ve been doing the little things to win games. We’ve been playing smart ball, we’re executing and it’s good,” said White Sox third baseman Yoán Moncada, through interpreter Billy Russo, during a Monday afternoon Zoom. “That has been very good for us.

“There have been guys who step up and doing a very good job for us and helping us, and that’s important, too. It shows how good we are, how cohesive we are as a team. That’s important, because when Eloy and Robert join us, we’ll be in a good position because we’ll reinforce our strength. Everybody has been doing their job, that’s why we’re in this position. It’s good, and we’re having fun.”

Yermín Mercedes clearly has been one prime example of a player who has somewhat unexpectedly stepped up, ranking fourth in the AL in batting average at .320 entering the Memorial Day doubleheader. But it really has been a total team effort, invoking a tried and true sports cliché.

Players such as Billy Hamilton, Jake Lamb and Danny Mendick have done exactly what’s been needed of them and then some when called upon through the first two months. But the White Sox aren’t satisfied with success at the quarter pole of the season.

“We have a good team. But we can't be too complacent,” Moncada said. “We have to keep working hard, keep doing our thing, because it's a long season and we want to win it all. There's still plenty of season in front of us. We have to keep grinding and working out and doing our stuff and winning games.”

Winning the series from the Indians on the road would give the White Sox even greater AL Central control against their current prime challenger. Minnesota, the co-favorite in the Central entering the season, began Monday 10 games under .500 and 11 games back.

“It’s going be an important series for us,” Moncada said. “They're a pretty good team, too. But what matters for us is just to keep playing and having fun and keep doing what we've been doing this season. Hopefully, we're going to get a good result, and when this series is done, they're going to be far behind us. And that will be good for us.

“But we'll see. It is a good feeling to be on a winning team that has a chance to win every night. Definitely different from those years when we were rebuilding. Those were tough years because things didn't always go our way and we had to battle. Even though we knew that we were in that rebuilding phase, we took all those losses and all those years hard. It wasn't easy. Definitely, it's good to be at this moment with this team. We are having fun. We are playing very good baseball.”

They said it

“I think we've got to be stricter on our stolen bases just because guys are ouchy.” -- White Sox manager Tony La Russa

“It’s a natural position for me. I feel even more comfortable there than I was at second base. But also, I’ve been working hard every day over the last couple years to be as good as I can over at third base.” -- Moncada, on his defensive play