2021 AL Central Preview

Day two of my set of previews for the upcoming MLB season is underway!

Yesterday I covered both East divisions, and I'm working my way west over the next couple days. Since our champion came from out west, I'm saving them for tomorrow, which means I'm staying close to home today.

Starting things off, let's look at the American League Central.

2019 MLB Preview: AL Central

We're halfway through the MLB preview series for 2019! Thursday everyone except the Mariners and A's open the season (since they played a pair in Japan already), so I'm working my way through the league early this week to be ready for Opening Day.

Earlier today I touched on my home division in the NL Central, so this afternoon we flip leagues and head over to the American League to see how the Central shapes up.

90's Youth Life Podcast Special: The 1994 MLB Playoffs Simulation

I was a radio guy in college. So it's kind of a surprise that, other than a random podcast with a Nintendo forum something like ten years ago that who knows if it even still exists anywhere or not, I am a novice at the podcast game. Fortunately, I know people.

I've talked up the immortal Geoffrey Clark on here before. He's a classmate and friend from my North Central days, a blogger for Chicago Bulls Confidential, and he is also the host of the 90s Youth Life podcast. He's talked up a number of topics from when we grew up, including topics like the McDonald's Beanie Baby craze and the career of Ken Griffey, Jr. with another WONC alum we overlapped with.

So a couple weeks ago, I got a text from Geoff regarding my favorite tool on this blog, WhatIfSports. He'd been introduced to the tool through Confessions of a Sportscaster and was talking about how addicting it was. It was through that discussion that he brought up the lost postseason of 1994 due to the strike. One thing led to another and, well... I was a guest on a podcast.

In it we run through how the 1994 Major League Baseball postseason could have played out had the playoffs been the leaders in the standings when play stopped. After the jump I will post links to the box scores of the games, but if you want to keep the element of surprise... take a listen.

2018 MLB Preview: AL Central

We're onto the second preview of the day as we pass the halfway point of a look at the 2018 Major League Baseball season. I've condensed the process down this year to three days instead of six, going through two divisions a day. Tomorrow I'll look at the west coast.

I got a look this morning at my most familiar division. Today, I go to my second most familiar division as we stay in the Midwest and take a look at the AL Central.

MLB Tournament of Champions: ALCS

Just four teams remain, and we're one round away from the Championship of Champions here in the MLB Tournament of Champions!

At the end of July we wrapped up the Division Series round, and we're now onto the LCS round. Once again I'm giving each series its own post so I can do brief writeups for each game in the series and all the players can get their due.

In one corner in this matchup we have the 1995 Cleveland Indians, who came in looking for a greater prize than falling just short in their World Series can bring, and they've done well on that quest: 58 regular season wins, the most in the American League, and an ALDS sweep of the wild card 2001 Seattle Mariners. Their middle of the lineup (read: Albert Belle) produced, and Omar Vizquel proved to be a great table setter, and their pitching staff was lights out against Seattle, especially the bullpen which didn't allow a run.

They take on a team that pulled an upset in the 2011 Texas Rangers. Texas finished a game back of Boston, but the lack of home field advantage didn't matter as they took the first two games at Fenway to close out the Red Sox in four. The Rangers gave up a higher number of runs than you'd like to see out of a postseason team, but they more than made up for that with an elite offense with a middle of the lineup that did a ton of damage over four games, especially Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz.

These two teams will play a best of seven series with the Indians, by virtue of that top record in the AL, getting home field advantage which will be played in a 2-3-2 format. Considering the Indians and Rangers split their six games played during the regular season, they may need that home field advantage to break the deadlock. Statistics for this series, as well as postseason totals, can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play ball!

MLB Tournament of Champions: ALDS Series 2

The MLB Tournament of Champions continues as we resume the Division Series round of the playoffs!

Every series has gotten its own post for each series to get the spotlight, and giving me a chance to go in depth on each game, something I couldn't do during the regular season due to sheer volume. Here in a short series though, it's easy to bring focus onto a handful of games, especially in this critical series.

The 2001 Seattle Mariners are one contender in this set, fresh off a two game sweep of the 1970 Baltimore Orioles thanks to a walk off walk in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series. They won 52 games in the regular season and threatened the AL West title, but couldn't quite pull it off. The sweep puts them just 11 wins away from the promised land, something they fell short of in that legendary 2001 campaign.

They take on the 1995 Cleveland Indians, the best team in the American League from the regular season. Cleveland spent much of April in second place looking up at the 1984 Detroit Tigers before surging into first place in May, then running away with the division, ending up as the first team to punch their postseason ticket, and the first to clinch their division. They even spent some time with the best record in the tournament thanks to a potent lineup and strong starting rotation.

Like many of the postseason matchups, the Indians and Mariners ended up splitting their six games in the regular season, which means this is anyone's series. However, by virtue of having the best record in the AL, the Indians have home field advantage, which will be played in a 2-2-1 format. I am also keeping stats this postseason, which you can view by series and in aggregate here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some playoff baseball!

2017 MLB Preview: AL Central

After four days out towards the coasts, we're finally back in the nation's heartland as I continue my series of MLB previews. Sunday night sees the start of the Major League season, while Monday is the beginning of the MLB Tournament of Champions, my very ambitious project for the year.

As we make our final geographic move, let's swap leagues again and take a look at the AL Central. Let's note though, that both wild cards are taken.

Fly The W

I'm running on just three and a half hours of sleep this morning. But a lack of sleep has never felt so good.

It's a stark contrast from just 24 hours ago when my stomach was in knots from anticipation and extreme nervousness.

As a background, I am from suburban Chicago. My parents came here from North Dakota in the summer of 1984. That's a summer which, Cubs fans know, was a fun one on the north side of Chicago when the Cubs made a run, won the NL East, and fell just short of a World Series berth. They got hooked, spent pretty much every weekend that following summer in the bleachers at Wrigley, and fell in love with this team. My dad, who grew up a Twins fan, was able to pull off rooting for both because interleague play wasn't around yet and neither team was likely to make the World Series. He got a pair of Twins championships, but this one eluded him.

I first was "blessed and healed," to borrow a phrase from Eddie Vedder, in 1998 when my dad took me to Wrigley for the first time. I was hooked then and there, and this was helped by Sammy Sosa taking a bunch of steroids hitting a crapton of homeruns and leading the Cubs to the playoffs. I was in love with the Cubs from then on.

So of course, within a few years I got the required course in heartbreak. The 2003 NLCS was devastating, and is one of only a few times sports I wasn't directly involved in made me cry. It hardened me up a little bit for the early exits in 2007 and 2008, the latter of which kept me up until 3:30 in the morning, feeling numb, watching Family Guy and playing video games of some sort just to feel something again. This led to disappointing falls from 2009 onward, until Theo came aboard.

He was honest up front about the rebuild: it was going to take time, and it wasn't going to be pretty at first. Those first couple of years were not good, but I knew it was all part of the plan. Restock the farm system, build from within, draft high, trade for prospects, and watch them grow. 2014 ended on a fairly positive note as some of the seeds began to sprout. I expected 2015 to be a step towards contention, but last season exceeded my wildest expectations as I got to see Kris Bryant hit his first Major League homer in person, see a crazy walkoff win, and watch the Cubs shock the world with the third best record in the National League but finish third in their division. Thanks to the Wild Card Game, they got a shot to make a postseason run, and even though it ended sooner than I wanted it to, I was still optimistic about the future.

This year they came into the season with a target on their backs, but per Joe Maddon, they embraced it en route to the best record in baseball. They needed four games to handle the Giants, though not without a thrilling ninth inning comeback to eliminate Even Year Magic. They went 21 innings without a run against the Dodgers as many Cubs fans panicked (I was definitely freaked out but not in full panic mode) before flipping the switch, getting to Kershaw, and winning the pennant at home.

They faced an extremely good Indians team that took them to the brink. I'm not even going to make any "It was 3-1" jokes here, even though it would be karmic, because I respect the Indians and their fans. By all accounts of Cubs fans in Cleveland that I've heard, the city was incredibly welcoming, and even watching the game last night you could see the respect the Cubs and Indians had for each other.

None of that overrode the extreme nerves, the likes of which I don't think I've ever felt before except maybe during a Blackhawks overtime playoff game. The Cubs building a 5-1 lead helped relax me a little bit, but I've been a Cubs fan long enough to know that weird stuff happens. The Indians rallied in the eighth to tie the game, and I pulled a "surrender cobra" after Rajai Davis' game-tying home run, but with the game still tied, I had faith. I was scared after they blew a chance in the ninth that the Indians would walk it off, but Aroldis Chapman held firm. Then the rain came.

I debated about going to shower, but I didn't know how long the delay would last. Thankfully it wasn't long and the Cubs had the right part of the order coming up in the 10th. I would have been yelling with joy were Kristen not asleep, having gone to bed in about the fourth inning. I spent the entire bottom of the tenth on my feet, texting my dad, wishing I was there with him. And then, magic.

History. #FlyTheW pic.twitter.com/S8vVDYA87T

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) November 3, 2016

I'm not going to lie, I cried a little bit. Kristen even heard it from upstairs. Prior to last night, I had seen all of my teams win multiple titles. I don't remember the first three peat, but I have memories of Michael Jordan leading the Bulls to their second three peat. I was on the wagon for Green Bay's Super Bowl XXXI victory, and reveled in their win 14 years later. I got on the bandwagon in time for the Blackhawks' 2010 Stanley Cup, though the Cups in 2013 and 2015 were much sweeter for me. That's 11 championships, by the way, and they all pale in comparison to last night.

Maybe it's recency bias, but I think it's more of the emotional investment. Last night is why we love sports. Last night is why I am a Cubs fan. Losing sucks, and losing tough games when your team hasn't won in a long time hurts. But then you have nights like last night, and it makes it all worth it.

2016 MLB Predictions: AL Central

Happy Opening Day! All of the doldrums from winter can fade away now with the beginning of another spring and summer at the ballpark.

I've previewed five divisions, following my practice of saving the division with the World Series champion for last. I've also handed out all four wild card berths for my set of predictions, so only one team today is making the playoffs. Without further ado, here are my predictions for the AL Central.

2015 MLB Preview: AL Central

We're onto Day 3 of the series of MLB previews. In the last two days we've been out east, and now we're moving west towards the center of the country.

Today we're back in the American League looking at the Central division.  If you want to refer back to last year's predictions, which, overall, weren't too shabby for the division, you can find them here.

Let's take a look.

2014 MLB Preview: AL Central

Happy Friday! We're onto the fourth of six division previews now, and I'm through with projecting another sad year for my Cubs team. But what about the other Chicago baseball team and the rest of their division?

Detroit saw its pitching staff lead the way to the postseason again, while the postseason saw something of a surprising entrant in the Indians as a Wild Card. The rest of the division might not really be in a position to make a run, but you never know. I was way wrong about Cleveland last year. Hopefully I won't be as wrong this time around.