The division preview for the AL Central is here. The best thing in that preview:
Chicago is out of their tanking phase, and should battle for a division title this season.
BaseballMusings.com
The White Sox hold the largest division lead in the majors, eight games ahead of the Indians. They play well on both sides of the ball. The allow the fewest runs per game in the AL with the second lowest ERA, so the defense improves the pitching. The batters score 5.12 runs per game, second highest in the AL and highest in the division. The strength of the offense is the ability to get on base, with a .341 OBP. They combine lots of walks with a good team batting average, but not much power. In a year with a less lively ball, that turned out to be a good combination. The pitchers blow batters away with 10.4 K per nine, and they do a great job of limiting home runs.
The Twins were supposed to be the class of the division, yet they find themselves battling for third place with the Tigers. Minnesota still hits for power, with the highest total of home runs in the division, but their pitchers got the home run bug as well, wiping out the power advantage. Their pitchers are high on the home run scale and low on the strikeout scale, which turned out to be a poor combination. They allow the highest average number of runs in the division.
The Indians counted on their pitching this season after losing Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana. With Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale on the illjured list, the rotation is 2-8 with a 7.92 ERA in their last 17 games. It’s tough to find a strength in an offense that produced a .229/.298/.398 slash line. They only left 498 runners on base, the lowest in the majors, which may be why they are 9th in runs per game.
The Tigers lead the division and the AL in triples with 18. That’s remarkable in that they don’t hit many doubles nor home runs. They also spread them out, with Akil Baddoo having the most with four, and catcher Jake Rogers picking up three. Combine that with 56 stolen bases in 72 attempts, and it appears the Tigers are fast. On the pitching side, their strikeout rate as a group is low, but Casey Mize and Matthew Boyd seem to be finding some success with low K rates. So far, the combination of speed on the bases and guile on the mound kept the team out of the cellar.
The Royals got off to a good start but faded quickly. They rank 13th in runs allowed per game and 14th in runs scored per game. On offense, they are comparable to the Tigers, with good triples and stolen base numbers but not much else. They hit the fewest home runs in the division and in the league. On the pitching side, too many walks and too many home runs pushed the the runs allowed way up.
The season preview overestimated the Twins chances and underestimated the Tigers. We’ll see if Cleveland can right the pitching ship and get back into contention.