The State of the AL Central

“Goooooooood Morninnnnnnnn AL Central!!!!!!” Do ya want to know how tough it has been to be a resident of the American League Central? Let’s put it this way, the Twins went on a 15-1 record and moved up only half a game in the standings. Even the Royals are doing well, or at least better. It is in my opinion the toughest division this year in the majors. The Third place Twins would be in first place in three of the remaining five divisions. How is that for strength?

Minnesota

Okay let’s start with the Twinkies; like I said, two weeks ago they were 11.5 games out of first and then they started to get hot, real hot. For the month of June, they are 18-5 and are currently on a seven game winning streak which was preceded by an eight game winning streak with one loss in between. Again, after all this winning, after the two winning streaks, and after a 15-1 record over the past 16 games, they only moved up by a half a game. Why you ask; well keep on reading my friends, the good Doctor has done his research!

Detroit

You know, this is getting a little too close for comfort. We are just about at the All Star break and they are still in first place 2.5 games in front of the Chi-Sox. I have 100% confidence that the Sox will win the division in the end, but here are a couple of caveats to that belief. First off, I think it may very well go down to the last day of the season to determine who wins the division and who potentially goes to the playoffs with the Wild Card. The other thing is that in their last nine games of the season, they play KC six times and Toronto three; I am not sure though if this is a good thing or a bad thing. They have the talent to win, but so do the Sox, and since they are the reigning champs, I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. One thing’s for sure though, the second half of the ’06 season is gonna be really fun!

Cleveland

The only team in the division that seems to be having a tough time getting anywhere. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and playing .500 against the Central. This team has way too much talent to be playing this lousy and I foresee them getting it together and making a run in August or September; they are not done by a long shot. But to make a late season run like they did last year, they better start soon. As of this writing, the Indians are 18 games out of first place. I am just dumbfounded since most of the players on that team are being picked up by Fantasy League players for their performances. What gives? I mean they have Hafner, Sizemore, Peralta, Martinez, Belliard, and pretty soon, Casey Blake will be returning. As always though, this is a pitching staff that is under-performing by a long shot. High ERAs and WHIPs, low Wins and K totals, it is sad since I was looking forward to seeing the Indians in the chase again this season. It might happen, but like I said, if it does, they need to get going right now!

Kansas City

Yeah I put them on here for a couple of reasons. First off they will not be in the race for the Divisional Crown, but they will, and I mean will, cause problems along the way. Not only are the Sox, Tigers, and Twinkies running up their respective records, those cute little Kansas City Royals are actually starting to win some ball games. In the month of June they are 12-13, one game under .500 ball and for the Royals that is pretty darn good. Moreover, they are 7-3 in their last 10 games and starting to look like they are going to be a possible disruption in the playoffs race for a lot of teams, especially their neighbors in the AL Central.

Chicago

Okay; now we get to talk about my team. For the first time in a long time, a team other than the New York Yankees is defending their previous year’s World Series title pretty well. They are only 2.5 games out of first place and playing great baseball right now. If you want a slugfest, they will knock the ball around with the best of them; just ask the Cardinals, Mariners, and Indians. If you want minimalism, they will take care of that option too. Just ask the St. Louis Cardinals and their rookie pitcher Anthony Reyes, who had a no hitter in the 7th inning until Jim Thome hit what would turn out to be the game winning home run. As it turned out, it was the only run scored in the game and the only hit the Chi-Sox got, but they made it count.

They have scored eight or more runs 27 times already this season and have been shutout only two times, TWO! Regardless of what Jay Mariotti says, the White Sox are right where they need to be in order to defend their Championship. On top of everything else, they are a colorful and exciting team full of stories and fun. You have the fight between Pierzynski and Barrett, Ozzie Guillen making controversial comments, Jose Contreras continuing with his winning streak, and myriad other sub-stories.

Outlook

The last week or two of the season potentially will become a mini-season in of itself. Kansas City is in perfect position to cause some problems for the Twins and Tigers; Chicago plays six of their last nine games against Central opponents:

Twinkies' last three series:

Tigers' last three series:

White Sox last three series:

**Stats as of 7/1