2014 American League Central Division Preview

We are less than 2 weeks away from Opening Day. That is the greatest day all year. Everyone is equal and every team has a aspirations of a hopeful World Series championship. In the American League Central Division, however, only 1 team has actually contended for a World Series...the Detroit Tigers. This off-season the Central Division changed dramatically. With all these changes, will the Detroit Tigers win the AL Central for the 4th straight year? Here's my predictions team by team:



1. Detroit Tigers: Let's take a look first at the reigning division champs, the Detroit Tigers. They will not look like the Tigers of the past few years.For starters, Jim Leyland is no longer the manager. Former MLB catcher Brad Ausmus is at the helm this year. And he has more tools to work with than Leyland did. In the past few years, the Tigers were known for good starting pitching and power bats. They will still have both of those, but now Ausmus will have speed to mix in and a shut down bullpen. The Tigers started off the off-season by trading Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Ian Kinsler. Now, besides my dislike for Kinsler after his recent comments about my beloved Rangers, the Tigers are getting an All-Star defender with speed. He is a veteran lead off hitter, which will allow the pressure to be taken off Austin Jackson. Comerica Park is good for Kinsler, who thrives at hitting balls to the gap. If Kinsler isn't worried about hitting home runs, he drives the ball better. They will still have the 2-time MVP Miguel Cabrera, but with the trade of Fielder he will be moving to first base. This will help Cabrera stay healthy and help his production to stay up. The starting pitching will be very good behind Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, but it will miss right hander Doug Fister. Fister blossomed in Detroit, but the team traded him to the Washington Nationals to make room for Drew Smyly in the rotation. The bullpen will be source of strength for the Tigers for the first time in a while as they signed veteran closer Joe Nathan in the off-season as well. But as Miguel Cabrera goes, so goes the Tigers. If he stays healthy and in the line up, Detroit will be looking to get back to the World Series this season.

2. Kansas City Royals: The Royals are a team that are finally back in the playoff contention for the first time in over 20 years. They have a good mix of speed, power, youth, and starting pitching. The Royals brought in Narichika Aoki from Milwuakee in the off-season, they also signed infielder Omar Infante, infielder Danny Valencia, and starting pitching Jason Vargas. They did lose Ervin Santana, who signed with the Atlanta Braves, but Vargas will make up Santana's production. He will be behind staff ace James Shield as the starting rotation will look to be one of the best in the big leagues. The line-up will be good behind Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas to go along with the veteran presence of Infante. The bullpen will be good again this year, but they will need closer Greg Holland to step up even more than he did last year. The Royals will be in a close race for the playoffs at season's end.

3. Cleveland Indians: The Indians will go backwards this year. The Indians made the playoffs last year for the first time in a few years, but I don't see them making the playoffs again this year. They added outfielder David Murphy and pitchers John Axford, Aaron Harang, and Shaun Marcum. The Indians got big years last season from guys who normally don't put up those kind of numbers. Carlos Santana is the only consistent player in the line-up. The Indians will have good power and decent speed, but they will struggle to hit for average. Their pitching staff will be rough after Justin Masterson. Masterson should have another good year, but losing Ubaldo Jimenz to the Baltimore Orioles will hurt because there isn't much experience after Masterson. Yes the Indians signed Marcum, but he's been injury-proned the last couple of years. The bullpen will be shaky for Cleveland as well. John Axford was brought in to be the closer, but he struggled so much in Milwaukee last season that they traded him to St. Louis. Then the Cardinals didn't make an attempt to sign him this off-season. The Indians will go backwards this season and not contend for a playoff spot.

4. Chicago White Sox: The White Sox are the MLB version of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are a team who never gets better but never gets worse. They stay even-kill and find it hard to grow. The White Sox have found themselves in that same category. They brought in Adam Eaton via trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks and signed Cuban free agent Jose Abreu. They lost closer Addison Reed as part of that deal with the Diamondbacks. Abreu is a mystery to the club, but if he is the hitter the Sox hope he can be then the top of the line up will be decent with Abreu, Konerko, and De Aza. But the bottom of the line up will struggle all season. After Chris Sale, their starting pitching doesn't have any one with much experience. And their bullpen without Reed will suffer. It's going to be a long year on the south side of Chicago.

5. Minnesota Twins: The Twins are still in re-building mode. This team made big strides in the off-season, but don't look for it to help make them contenders this year. They added some big pieces to the starting rotation, one that was the worst rotation in baseball last season. The Twins added Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes, and Mike Pelfrey to the rotation. All 3 guys should be major upgrades from a year ago. The bullpen will be the question mark for this team, but if the bullpen can get a lead to the 9th inning Glen Perkins is a good closer that should get a lot of saves for Minnesota. The line up will look similar to last season except for the loss of Justin Morneau, who they traded to Pittsburgh last season and signed with the Colorado Rockies this season. The Twins got a veteran to run things on the field by signing catcher Kurt Suzuki. He should be able to lead an experienced pitching staff. The problem with this team will be the lack of production from the line up. Look for this team to lose many low scoring games.

My Standings Predictions:

1. Detroit Tigers             95-67     - GB
2. Kansas City Royals    90-72     5 GB
3. Cleveland Indians       81-81     14 GB
4. Chicago White Sox    75-87     20 GB
5. Minnesota Twins        67-95     28 GB

So this is my prediction for the 2014 American League Central Division. I do believe Detroit will win the division for a 4th straight year, however, I think it'll come down to the last 2 weeks between them and Kansas City. It's going to be fun to watch the young players for the Royals taking on the big bats of Detroit this season.