What in the World Has Happened to the American League Central?!

It's hard to believe, but the 2023 MLB season is actually the 30th year of this six-division format. Divisional Play began in 1969 with the American and National Leagues being split into two divisions: East and West. This exact format was last played in the 1993 season, and after that year ended, the divisions were realigned, with select teams from the East and West being placed together in each league, marking the birth of the Central Divisions in the AL and NL. The original American League Central consisted of the then-named Cleveland Indians (now the Cleveland Guardians), the Chicago White Sox, the Minnesota Twins, the Kansas City Royals, and the Milwaukee Brewers. 1998 saw the Brewers moved to the NL Central and replaced by the Detroit Tigers, which made way for the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays to replace Detroit in the AL East.

Historically, the AL Central hasn't really been a strong division. In the 28 complete seasons that the division's existed (their first year was the strike-shortened 1994 season), the AL Central has only been represented in the World Series six times, and only won twice (2005 White Sox and 2015 Royals). In addition, the AL Central winner only reached 100 wins three times, with 2019's Twins (101 wins) being the last occurrence to date. The previous season saw the Guardians capture the division at 92-70, which cemented them as the #3 team in the American League, resulting in Cleveland hosting a Wild Card Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Even then, I sensed a decline from this division. Boy, are we seeing it.

As of this writing, no one in the AL Central has a .500 record. The Twins' latest loss dropped them to 31-32, but that record leads the division. Literally every team in the AL East would be in first place in the Central, and the same could be said for the AL West, except for the Oakland Athletics. I've never seen anything like this. I've seen teams win divisions with under 90 wins. Hell, the New York Yankees did so in 2000--winning only 87 games to capture the AL East. In 2006, the San Diego Padres actually won the NL West at 82-80, which is the worst possible winning record in MLB.

The optimistic way to look at this is, well, nearly all of the teams have a shot. After all, it is still early. The Tigers and White Sox, who were big question marks entering the 2023 season, are very close behind the Twins in the division race. The Tigers' season is centered on Miguel Cabrera calling it a career after this year, yet they find themselves in a pretty decent spot in the Central. The White Sox have lagged since winning the division in 2021, and the offseason actually saw them part ways with Jose Abreu, who is under-performing with the Houston Astros. Yet Chicago does have an outside shot at the division.

And then there's Cleveland, the defending division champs. I actually picked Cleveland to take the division this year, because they look pretty good last year. The Guardians were better than their record said they were, but this year, the team has been struggling to put wins together. They did just move back into second place, but they have yet to move back to the top.

Of course, the pessimist can look at this division and say, "It sucks." They'd be right, though. 31-32 should not lead a division, but this is the AL Central in 2023. The Twins haven't been good themselves. They have failed to build a huge lead in that division, but despite their woes, the teams below them just can't seem to capitalize. As many banana peels that the Twins have slipped on, the Guardians, Tigers, and White Sox have slipped on more of them, and the Royals are just done. That's how messed up KC is; they're out of the loop in a bad division, and this is just eight years after winning the World Series.

Will we see an 81-81 or worse record win the AL Central? The possibility does exist. It's early. The season isn't even at the break yet. A lot can happen in this league, but even so, there is a possibility that 81 wins, or less than that, can win the AL Central. I myself can't see any of these teams going on winning tears just to get to a 90-win finish. We could see an ultimate train wreck division this season.