The Sandspur

Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: Sports

Arguably the worst division in baseball a few seasons ago, the American League Central has grown in stature the previous two years. The Chicago White Sox won the World Series in 2005, and the Detroit Tigers rose from
obscurity to win the American League pennant last year. Furthermore, both the Minnesota
Twins and Cleveland Indians look to be competitive. Despite the lackluster Kansas City Royals, this may be the best division in
baseball.

Cleveland Indians

The Reason for Hope: Luck was not on the Cleveland Indians' side last year. They outscored their opponents by 88 runs, but
finished with a 78-84 record. Their Pythagorean record, calculated using their runs scored and runs allowed, said they should have won 90 games. Luck will even out
this year for them and vault them to the top of the division.

The Cause for Concern: Concerns abound in the rotation after ace CC Sabathia. Jake
Westbrook has an excellent sinker, but he's only a middle-of-therotation guy. Cliff Lee and Paul Byrd are, at best, fifth candidate
options, while Jeremy Sowers and his slow-paced stuff may get knocked around once hitters adapt. The Indians will find themselves hard pressed to match up against the stronger rotations in the American League.

Prediction: First place, with 96 wins

Detroit Tigers

The Reason for Hope: A lot of their pitchers took huge steps forward last year. Justin Verlander won 17 games and the Rookie of the Year Award, while Nate Robertson had an ERA better than Curt Schilling. However, it's
Jeremy Bonderman that got Tiger fans excited. He struck out 202 batters in only 214 innings and had the peripherals to bring his ERA to the low 3s rather than 4.08. All five pitchers in the rotation could easily average 15 wins.

The Cause for Concern: Young -- and in the case of Kenny Rogers, very old -- pitching has the tendency to be inconsistent. There could be excellent seasons from all five members of the rotation or a couple of them may show their age, which would be problematic in this division.

Prediction: Second place, with 92 wins

Chicago White Sox

The Reason for Hope: Their offense powered 236 home runs last year, 26 more than the
vaunted New York Yankees. A big reason for their production was the four players eclipsing the 30 homer mark: Jim Thome, Joe
Crede, Jermaine Dye, and Paul Konerko. All four could combine to hit .290/130/420, which would be a tremendous middle of the

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