By Ethan Salm
Welcome to the Cleveland Indians show once again.
For the fourth straight season the Indians should coast through the AL Central easily. The starting rotation, headed by the deadly trio of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Carlos Carrasco, can compete with anyone. They should easily mow down most of the hitters in the central. This is one of the best starting rotations in the entire league if everyone is healthy.
The Tribe’s starting lineup is strong as well. They have one of the most exciting players in baseball, shortstop Francisco Lindor. They also have Jose Ramirez, who finished third in MVP voting the past 2 seasons, and Carlos Santana, is back in Cleveland after spending last year with the Phillies.

That should be enough for the Indians to win this weak division once again. I expect the Minnesota Twins to slide into second behind the them.
The Twins should be a little better than last year, but they do not have the talent to jump the Indians this season. Minnesota picked up some talent this offseason by acquiring C.J. Cron, Marwin Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz, and Jonathan Schoop. The future is bright for the Twins. The core of their starting lineup is all aged between 25 and 30. The main reason they will finish behind Cleveland this year is pitching. The Twins don’t have that one ace to spearhead their pitching staff and most of their starters are inconsistent at best. The core of Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano, and Byron Buxton have lots of potential, but they aren’t there yet. Look for this team to stay close but not too close to the Indians this year.
The Chicago White Sox will not lose 100 games this year. It hasn’t been great for them in recent seasons as they have been waiting for talent to develop but it’s starting to get there on the South Side. They had one chance to speed up that process and they messed it up big time. They didn’t sign Manny Machado which is a big mistake by the Sox. He is the type of player that can turn a middle of the pack team into a playoff team which is what the Sox wanted. Jose Abreu is definitely the best player on this team, and he should have another productive year. Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, and Yolmer Sanchez all need more time to develop. Yonder Alonso is a good signing, but the young talent needs to get better before the wins will come. Saying the White Sox starting pitching isn’t great is putting it nicely. The best 2018 ERA on the team belongs to Ivan Nova at 4.37. This just isn’t the Sox time yet. A few years down the line though, watch out. After the White Sox, there are 2 teams that really did nothing to improve in the offseason.
There isn’t really much to say about the Tigers or Royals. The Tigers have a little more talent than Kansas City, especially now that Salvador Perez will miss the entire season, so I expect the Tigers to take fourth and the Royals to finish last in the weak AL Central. Here is what I think the final standings will look like:
2018 Final Standings

1. Cleveland
2. Minnesota
3. Detroit
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Kansas City

Ethan’s 2019 Projection:

1. Cleveland
2. Minnesota
3. Chicago White Sox
4. Detroit
5. Kansas City

Playoff teams: Cleveland.
Edited by Garrett Jones | [email protected]