[Augetout]

A.L. CENTRAL
In the chosen time period, the Twins, Royals, and Tigers won World Series championships, while the White Sox occasionally slipped into the playoffs, and the Indians wallowed in the mire that was their experience in the AL East back then. The Indians did make it to the World Series in 1995 (the year after the cutoff for non-expansion teams) but lost to the Braves. Remarkably they made it back to the World Series again in 1997, but managed to lose to the expansion Marlins. Oh, and let’s not forget losing the 2016 World Series to the team formerly knowns as ‘lovable losers’, i.e. the Cubs. With 3 of the 5 teams in the division being World Series Champions, the AL Central should loaded, right? Let’s see:

The contenders: Royals, Tigers, and Twins.

The also-rans: The White Sox, and Indians.

The White Sox, if you ever listened to WMAQ in Chicago, were perennial contenders-just ask ‘em, during the chosen time period, but only made the playoffs twice during the chosen time period, in 1983 and 1993. They’ve had good players, but didn’t put it together during the chosen time period. For this league, the lineup is a mixture of the softball-uniformed early ‘80s teams, and the early 90s teams. The ChiSox will score runs, but with the relatively low batting averages and lack of team speed, it will likely be inconsistent. The starting rotation is solid, but not at an elite level. The bullpen is better, and should be able to preserve leads when given the chance. If the karmic dice fall correctly, the White Sox could contend, and not many teams will look forward to playing against them, but the starting rotation will probably cause them to reside in mediocre-land most of the time.

The Indians if asked, would probably answer that it ‘figures’ someone would go to the trouble of creating a league with each team’s best players, but still manage to leave the Indians out in the cold by choosing a time period that doesn’t suit the Tribe. Having said that, Cleveland’s lineup is dangerous in a few ways: The top 2 lineup spots each have a 60+ SB guy and the top 3 spots in the lineup have hitters with averages of .341 and above. The top 7 hitters are all above .300, and slots 3 thru 8 all have 20+ HRs. 1978 Andre Thornton hit 33 HRs, which is good for 8th in the Indians starting lineup… Offense won’t be the problem, but the Starting pitching rotation will. The first 3 are solid, and the 4 and 5 pitchers aren’t horrible, but in a division like the AL Central, solid and not ‘horrible’ aren’t likely to result in success over a 162 game schedule. The bullpen might help, but without help from the starters they will wear down. The Indians will scare some teams, but will most likely not contend in the AL East.

The Twins won the World Series in 1987, and 1991. Lots of offense, decent defense, and timely good pitching was their recipe for success. For this league it might be much of the same, although to a lesser degree. As it turns out, the Twins have had some pretty damned good pitchers in non-World Series years. The lineup is stout, with the first 7 hitters having batting averages north of .301, and the top 6 hitters all having 29 or more doubles. The 1994 version of Chuck ‘new kids on’ Knoblauch leads off with a .312 average, along with 45 doubles and 35 SBs. He is followed by 1977 Rod Carew and his .388 batting average. In the 3 slot is a .356 hitting Kirby Puckett, and so on throughout the lineup. The only relatively weak spot in the lineup is Roy Smalley at #9, and while his .271 average might give opposing pitchers the illusion of relief and/or a resting spot, his 24 HRs will say otherwise. The starting rotation has a good top 3, with the 4 and 5 spots being solid but not great. The bullpen isn’t outstanding, either, so not unlike that actual Twins of the day; these Twinkies will have to win with good hitting, good defense, and timely appearances of good pitching. Odds are that the Twins will contend on a consistent basis in the AL Central.

The Tigers, much to my teenage chagrin, won the World Series in 1984 over my beloved Padres. Worse yet, I disliked them intensely before that unhappy occurrence due to their habit of beating the Brewers. Led by manager Sparky Anderson, (the Reds made a booboo when they decided Sparky’s best days were behind him), the Tigers always found a way to win. Sure they traded John Smoltz away for a rental version of Doyle Alexander, but every team has a similar skeleton somewhere in a given closet. For this league, the Tigers’ lineup is an interesting mix of World Series winners and players from the Fielder ‘era’, along with a sprinkling of players from the late 1970s. 1978 Ron LeFlore and his 68 SBs lead off, with 1993 Tony Phillips’ .443 OBP hitting second in the hopes that someone will be on base when 1987 Trammell’s .343 comes to the plate, or when cleanup hitter 1990 Cecil Fielder’s 51 HRs arrive. In all, 6 of the 9 starters are good for 20+ HRs, and 5 of the 9 are good for 30+ doubles. The Tiggers will score their share of runs, to be sure. 1976 Mark ‘the bird’ Fidrych and his 2.34 ERA is the staff ace, with the rest of the staff being relatively mediocre for a league of this sort. The bullpen is solid, and if the Tigers have a lead in the 8th or 9th inning the game will probably be over. That starting rotation, though, suggests that too often there won’t be a lead for the Tigers bullpen to protect. The Tigers will contend, but they will not dominate, in the AL Central.

The Royals lost the World Series in 1980 (to the Phillies) and if not for Denkinger’s horrible call in game 6 of the ’85 series, they would have lost that one too, but enough of me whining! The Royals of the late 1970s and through the mid-1980s was a team that considered itself in the mix to contend year in and year out. It didn’t hurt that the team leader was a future Hall of Famer in George Brett, but if we’re being honest we’ve seen teams do worse with more. This lineup has Willie Wilson and Amos Otis in the first 2 slots, with George Brett in the 3 hole. Slots 2 thru 7 are good for 20+ HRs. Slots 3 thru 7 have OPS north of .900. The starting rotation has 1989 Bret Saberhagen as an ace, with none of the 5 starters having an ERA above 2.72. The bullpen has 3 pitchers with ERAs under 2.00, and 2 pitchers with WHIP under 1.000. It is probably the best staff in the AL Central, and thus the Royals will contend for the AL Central title, with or without a return of Don Denkinger!