This truly is a division for the taking.
There are only three teams that even have a shot at making the playoffs.
The Royals are still firmly in their rebuild.
At least the Royals are the one team in this awful division to win a World Series since 2006.
The Tigers are a dumpster fire.
They lost 96 games last year and Keith Law had their farm system ranked dead last in baseball.
They’ve also done nothing to improve the major league club from last year.
That leaves us with the White Sox, Guardians and Twins.
If any one of these teams won the division, it wouldn’t be a shock.
The Twins big issue last year was starting pitching.
So they pitching is better but now the offense took a hit.
Meanwhile, look at what the Rangers did in just this offseason.
They added free agents Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney and re-signed Martin Perez.
Instead, the Twins just shuffle guys around and will once again be in the .500 ballpark again.
The Guardians are a team that does almost everything right.
But if you look a little deeper, I see some potential cracks.
They were remarkably healthy last year.
Shane Beiber, Tristan McKenzie and Cal Quantrill combined to make 93 regular season starts last year.
The Guardians were 61-32 in those games last year.
They were 31-38 when those guys didn’t start a game.
I’d be shocked if they can get that same health from that trio again.
It’s not just the pitching.
They also got remarkable health from their key offensive performers as well.
This is a team that has the foundation of what could be an actual dynasty.
They have a payroll of under $100 million.
They could have signed Justin Verlander, Aaron Judge and Brandon Nimmo and not touched $200 million.
Instead, they sign Josh Bell who is a fine hitter but give me a break.
The Dolans are literally the worst.
So why do I think the White Sox can win?
They had the opposite season of the Guardians last year.
Instead of a genius in the dugout, they had a nearly 80 year old Tony LaRussa.
He had no business being in that dugout last year.
Based on his history, he shouldn’t be allowed to drive either.
Let’s just all agree that LaRussa should just stay home.
It’s kind of pains me to write that.
He really was a great manager once.
Go read George Will’s Men At Work.
But in 2023, not having Tony LaRussa in uniform is addition by subtraction.
The White Sox also had horrific luck last year.
This is the biggest reason why they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
The White Sox went out and got Andrew Benintendi.
He’s not great and they wildly overpaid for him but I think he could really help this team.
He’s only 28 and this was a team that was 9th in the AL in runs last year.
Yeah, I don’t care about that.
Spring Training stats are stupid.
Dylan Cease is a legitimate ace.
I’d fully expect him to be a Top 5 AL Cy Young candidate again this year.
The White Sox also signed Mike Clevinger to replace Johnny Cueto but that feels like a push to me.
I don’t know if any team in this division will win 90 games.
The new schedule where you play your own division much less will hurt the teams in the AL Central.
They have a deeper lineup than most and I’m very high on Cease.
Imagine if one of these teams actually spent real money?
