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2023 AL Central Predictions


Dan Pasqua

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1st Chicago White Sox - really good roster top to bottom.  Good pitching, very good hitting but need to stay healthy bc of depth issues.  If injuries plague us again we are looking more like 3rd or 4th depending on the severity 

2nd Minnesota Twins - good offense and good pitching, I think things get rolling for them and they hang on to 2nd over Cleveland 

3rd Cleveland Indians - lots off good young players but may be too young.  Not thrilled with their pitching depth unless some of their prospects come up

4th KC Royals - I like their makeup but their pitching is going to be a huge quesrion mark and really is the only thing holding them back outside 1 or 2 question marks on the hitting side 

5th Detroit Tigers - pitching is not there and too many questions about their hitting 

 

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8 hours ago, Polar Bear said:

1st Chicago White Sox - really good roster top to bottom.  Good pitching, very good hitting but need to stay healthy bc of depth issues.  If injuries plague us again we are looking more like 3rd or 4th depending on the severity 

2nd Minnesota Twins - good offense and good pitching, I think things get rolling for them and they hang on to 2nd over Cleveland 

3rd Cleveland Indians - lots off good young players but may be too young.  Not thrilled with their pitching depth unless some of their prospects come up

4th KC Royals - I like their makeup but their pitching is going to be a huge quesrion mark and really is the only thing holding them back outside 1 or 2 question marks on the hitting side 

5th Detroit Tigers - pitching is not there and too many questions about their hitting 

 

This is the one area I DO trust Cleveland to have success. Until they prove otherwise, I just assume their pitching prospects are going to be a success based on their track record of at least the past 8 years.

I've got:

1. Cleveland. Youth, pitching, excitement, and everyone seems to like each other

2. Sox. Loads of talent, too many health/bounce back season variables. Lost Abreu#. 1 if everything goes right, #3 if more of the same. I think the new coaching staff has us close to #1 than #3 though.

3. Twins. Top-heavy talent. As a baseball fan, I want to see Buxton play 150 games. As a Sox fan, I expect he'll play less than 50.

4. Royals. Young talent is fun to watch, will be fun to see Greinke finish out his career in powder blue with a "f*** it, let's have fun" season

5. Tigers. What even are they. 

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Sox 90-72
Twins 88-74
Guardians 87-75
Royals 75-87
Tigers 70-92

Sox stay healthy for the most part.  They have streaks of great baseball and (luckily) shorter streaks of bad baseball.  Sox, Twins, and Guardians are all in it all season, flip-flopping 1st, 2nd, and 3rd throughout the season.  Hendriks come back in the second half.  Just his presence boosts the team, and the Sox take over 1st place in early September and never look back.

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24 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

Cleve - 90-72

Minn - 89 - 73

Sox - 78 - 84

KC - bad

Det - BAD

I just can't fathom how we can get worse with the following happening:

1. Got rid of Larussa.

2. Got rid of our DH who played LF.

3. Got rid of our 1B who played RF

4.  Gradal, Moncada, Giolito, Kelly, Leury had career bad years.

5. Eloy, Robert, Lynn, Kopech and Anderson, missed gobs of time. crochet whole season

 

I think people will be shocked how a competent OF makes a difference.  Sure we lost abreu (though I'd argue this makes us better), Hendriks (assume whole year), and Cueto after his best year in 5 years. Obviously our injury prone players will get hurt again, but to that extent?  And practically all of them?  

But our lineup is FAR more balanced (which matters) and our defense will take massive strides.  Plus we have a coach that won't fall asleep each game. I just can fathom being worse than last year. 

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1 hour ago, JoshPR said:

Wow a lot of kool-aid being drank.... 

It's more reasonable to believe the Sox will be better than last year than it is to predict a losing season.  Key players were hurt for long periods of time, the team had a terrible manager, and more guys under-performed than over-performed.  Moderate improvements in health and even slight returns to form for a couple key guys gets this team 4-5 more wins than last year.  And the new coaching staff, and the resulting change in culture, won't hurt, either.

They'll need some help to win the division, probably, with the balanced schedule.  But the Sox should be able to take care of themselves.

I would argue that the "woe is me as a Sox fan, we're gonna lose 85+ games" is a more kool-aid (poison kool-aid anyway) drinking view than being somewhat optimistic.

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Given what has happened both on and off the field the last 18 months, the seemingly incompetent, dysfunctional and inept ownership/front office my goals are modest:

1. Play meaningful games in August/September

2. Finish with a winning record

Anything over and above that is gravy.

 

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2 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Given what has happened both on and off the field the last 18 months, the seemingly incompetent, dysfunctional and inept ownership/front office my goals are modest:

1. Play meaningful games in August/September

2. Finish with a winning record

Anything over and above that is gravy.

 

Yet, even if they accomplish all of these plus some, you'll complain daily along the way. 

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2 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

What have the Twins done to improve from a team that lost 2 more games than the Sox last year? 

Not lose their best offensive player, their 2nd(?) best starting pitcher, and probably their closer for a good chuck if not all of the season?  I haven't followed them too closely, but I think they will feast on the Sox, KC, and Detroit enough to have a better record.

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