A Look At the Central

Before the start of the season, it was expected that there would be four outstanding teams fighting it out for first place in the AL Central and that the Wild Card winner was almost certainly going to be coming out of the division as well. While the latter is still true, the former is starting to look more and more unlikely as time goes by.

The one-two combination of Cleveland and Detroit is going to be real close the entire season. Neither team is weak enough to let the other pull away and each team is very similar- high powered offense and strong starting pitching. The only difference is that the Tigers somehow got the Indians bullpen from last year while the Indians' pen somehow turned into the Bullpen Bengals of yesteryear.

Outside of these two teams though, the rest of the division is coming up short. Minnesota is winning games as always, yet they're just two games above .500 and 5.5 games out of the division lead. As we were shown last year, even when the Twinkies seem like they're out of it, they are a true second half team. After the All-Start break, these guys will probably be right back in the thick of things.

On the other hand, the Chicago White Sox are nearly dead already. They sit 11.5 games out and have just 29 wins. They're only three games up on the Royals for fourth place in the division. What is happening in the Windy City is really unexplainable, considering the quality of the rotation and the ability in the line up. The ChiSox have to be the most underachieving team in MLB this year, no doubt about it. The Royals are doing exactly what is expected of them (being doormats for the rest of the division), and they are just barely hanging on above them.

There are rumors circulating that Ozzie Guillen might find himself out of a job if this trend continues. While Ozzie is a great quote, there's nothing incredible about him as a manager- he's benefited from good personnel moves and great pitching for the last two seasons. Needless to say, he won't be missed in this neck of the woods.

This division is still the strongest in baseball, if only because of the quality of the top two teams. Cleveland and Detroit should, should, have enough to outclass Minny down the stretch, but like I said, there's no counting out that Twins team. As of right now, it's a two-horse race to the finish, even though we're not even at the halfway point yet. The real question is what's going to be more exciting- watching the Tigers and Indians fight it out for the division crown, with the loser still nearly guaranteed to own a playoff spot, or the Battle For Fourth between the Royals and the White Sox?