AL Central Division

[Say Hey]

Who will win the AL central this year?

Will it be the White Sox?

or

Will it be the Tigers?

or

Will it be the Twins?

Based on my Detroit bias in every professional sport, I will say the Tigers.

[Sweet Lou]

Tigers win, Twins in second, and hopefully they take the Wildcard.

[Reed Johnson]

The Indians

[CanadianKid]

I say twins if not then they'll take the wildcard, but either way their making the playoffs.

[Texas Rangers]

i like twins chances, but since the tigers never lose, they will take it. id be happy to see the tigers finally win that division.

[The Big C]

El Tigres. The Twins might make it interesting though, if they can keep going the way they are.

[Baseball Guru]

I think the Sox will eventually turn it around and come in 2nd over the Twins and the Tigers will hold on to win the division...

[starkeeper]

The Indians

You have got to be kidding I hope!!

Tigers take the division and the wild card depends on what happens at the trade deadline. I wouldn't mind seeing the Sox repeat even though Guillen has hoof and mouth disease!!:laugh

[Brannu]

I must say that I am truly a believer now. The Tigers.

I've been waiting for them to fall off and after watching every pitch of last night's game and seeing how Liriano dominated them after the first inning ... their resilience, patience and ability to respond in big game situations is the making of champions.

They're good.

[baseball junkie]

I can't believe I'm seriously writing this, but Detroit just has too much pitching depth and three legit aces.

DET: Bonderman, Verlander, Rogers, Robertson, Miner, Maroth (when healthy)

Compared to the likes of:

ChiSox: Contreras, Buerhle, Garcia, Garland, McCarthy (until he's traded)

MIN: Santana, Liriano, Radke, ?, ?

In the closer department I'd give the edge to the Twins. Joe Nathan is fantastic, followed by the White Sox' Bobby Jenks and then bringing up the rear -- Todd Jones (who shouldn't even be closing for the Tigers.)

[Reed Johnson]

You have got to be kidding I hope!!

Tigers take the division and the wild card depends on what happens at the trade deadline. I wouldn't mind seeing the Sox repeat even though Guillen has hoof and mouth disease!!:laugh

Yeah I was. The Tigers will take the division and the Yankees will win the wildcard.

[KCGHOST]

Tigers are just too strong this year. With their lead and pitching they should coast in.

[yankillaz]

The White Sox. They're doing a Yankee 2000-2005 remake: Such a good team that the play low until it matters. Similar to the Detroit Pistons. I don't see the Tigers offense holding the second half slump of Kenny Rogers, the misuse of Justin Verlander, the inexperience of Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson. I see Zumaya, Rodney and Co. doing their jobs, but that's going to give them 90+ wins. Like in the West Division in 2002: Three teams won 90 games, by far: Oakland, Anaheim and Seattle. By July 29th, those three teams stood as followed:

1. Seattle: 64 - 42 (After that 29 - 27)
2. Anaheim: 63 - 41 (After that 36 - 22)
3. Oakland: 60 - 46 (After that 43 - 13)

If we take the records for now:

1. Detroit: 70 -33 (Plus 30 - 29) ----> 100 - 62
2. Chicago: 61 - 41 (Plus 37 - 23) ----> 98 - 64
3. Minnesotta: 59 - 43 (Plus 45 - 15) ----> 104 - 58

Not saying that this is going to end like this, but anything's possible. I'm not buying the Tigers just yet.

[Appling]

Tigers are just too strong this year. With their lead and pitching they should coast in.
Exactly my thoughts -- but I don't think the Tigers roster is very DEEP.
Just a few key injuries could change a lot. That's the only hope I see for Chicago or Minnesota to take the Central Division.

[Hazy]

I think the White Sox still have a shot, but what I'm really tired of is hearing about how the Twins are going to win the wild card just because they're on a hot streak. It's easy to pick a team that's hot. If they don't make it, you can just say "Hey, they were hot."

I don't think it's too late to wonder if the Tigers' pitchers will burn out before the season ends. Besides, even if they don't, they have no playoff experience.

[Astro]

Tigers win division, Twins win wild card

2 months ago I said the Twins would win the wild card, and people were calling me crazy..... pitching wins, and the Twins have a bunch of it

[racosun]

I think the Tigers will win it, but the Sox will make it close. Yeah, the pitching has been slumping for pretty much the whole year, but the talent is still there, and there's lots of it. The Tigers might hold on to the division by about 3 or 4 games, but I'm not sure the Sox will make it close enough to overcome either the Yankees or BoSox. The Twins just don't have the overall offense to keep up with the likes of Detroit or Chicago.