The American League Central division is, in so many words, the worst division in Major League Baseball. They are going to produce just one playoff team in the Minnesota Twins.
Several experts believe that the Twins will be one-and-done in the postseason and not put up much of a fight. We will see, but the playoff field is strong, and the weak link is Minnesota.
Minnesota is going the only team with a winning record in the division at the end of the season.
The Cleveland Guardians are going to miss out on the postseason but have a lot of promise for next year. They just could not overcome the Twins this season and had what some may call a mediocre year. They couldn’t get above .500 before the end of the season and have some rebuilding to do.
This team could surprise and contend for the playoffs next year depending on what things they can do to make themselves better this offseason. But with Terry Francona retiring, it’s probably going to be a rebuilding year.
The Chicago White Sox are not in a good AL Central Division in the year 2023.
The Detroit Tigers rose up the ranks a little bit this season and show a lot of promise as the season ends. They will not end up with a winning record as the smoke of the season clears but this team has a lot to look forward to in 2024.
Some of their young talent, like Spencer Torkelson, is starting to mature and come along while the rest of the team is poised to take a step up in the following year. The Tigers will be in contention for the AL Central crown next season or will be part of the wild card chase in the American League.
A team that has a little momentum heading into the off-season, the Kansas City Royals, might be a team that is on the rise. Kansas City has a good nucleus of players and played some nice baseball down the stretch.
This team will give the White Sox some trouble in 2024 and may even be able to make the playoffs if they can keep some of the same continuity going and if their solid nucleus of players can continue to grow and step up.
Then we have our beloved Chicago White Sox. This has been an incredibly disappointing season which has seen the Sox lose just over 100 games. Not too many people thought that the White Sox would be near the basement of the AL Central in 2023 but that’s where they are at.
The first season under Manager Pedro Grifol has been less than stellar and this poor performance has cost the jobs of Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams. Hopefully, new General Manager Chris Getz will be able to figure things out and get the ship righted.
The Twins are the class of the AL Central heading into the playoffs. The rest of the group needs to spend the offseason finding themselves and making some headway toward having a better future.
Perhaps, in the next season or two, this division will be much more competitive but for now, there is a lot of work to be done to get it to be much more competitive.