AL Central Prediction

Quote of the day: "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."- Babe Ruth

It's time to move on the next division in the AL;
The AL Central is the only division that has a clear cut winner to predict for the end of the season. 4 of the 5 teams have bad pitching and inconsistent batting. While this off season teams in the AL Central bolstered their lineups with bats, only one added significant pitching to the roster. The bottom three teams will have records under .500 making this division one of the least exciting ones in baseball.

1) Detroit Tigers: The defending AL champions look to defend their title this year and seem like the clear favorites to do so. With Victor Martinez coming back from knee surgery, the lineup is incredibly dangerous with Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera, and V-Mart. And on top of that, the pitching staff is easily the best in the game. Ace, Justin Verlander wants to become the first $200 million dollar pitcher so I'm sure he will not let anyone down. With power pitching and electric bats the Tigers will win the division easily.

2) Chicago White Sox: Chris Sale's sliders and fastballs saved this team last year. And aside from a solid season from Jake Peavy the pitching was pretty much non existent. Adam Dunn had a resurgent season and Paul Konerko being consistent as usual the White Sox had a decent season. Look for them to have the same type of season this year, but because of Detroit's dominance, they will have to deal with second place.

3) Cleveland Indians: This team has an alright starting rotation at best. Ubaldo Jimenez has not preformed to the Indians expectations whatsoever, leaving Justin Masterson to be the "ace" of the staff. But replacing Manny Acta with Terry Francona as manager and adding free agents Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher to the outfield bolstered this lineup to be a lot better than it was last year.

4) Kansas City Royals: The Royals added much needed pitching to their staff this off season adding Ervin Santana and James Shields to lead a very young rotation. They lost their top prospect in Wil Myers in the trade for James Shields but they have a young enough lineup to make up for the loss of talent. I think that catcher, Salvador Perez will have his breakout season this year and may even be elected to the All-Star game.

5) Minnesota Twins: Not much can be said about the Twins. Simply put, this is an awful team. Why? The pitching of course. They did nothing this off season to help bolster their already thin rotation except for adding Vance Worley, Kevin Corriea, and Trevor Bauer. And all three are below average pitchers. They lost speedy outfielders Denard Span and Ben Revere to trades to teams in the National League. The only positive thing that they have to look forward to this year is that they will get high draft choice. Joe Mauer's consistent bat, and great defense at catcher can only do so much for the Twins. They will easily lose at least 90 games.

Questions or comments?
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