Chicago White Sox

After finishing 2nd to the Twins in the division last season, the White Sox should overtake Minnesota this season. New add Adam Dunn has crushed at least 38 homers in seven straight seasons. The ChiSox lineup looks solid. Jake Peavy's injury is a concern but this pitching rotation still looks solid and the lineup will improve with the added power threat of Dunn in the cleanup spot.

Cleveland Indians

After winning less than 70 games last seasons, Cleveland's only real direction to go is up. The trouble is that Indians fans may struggle through yet another frustrating season. The Tribe still is dealing with not having a healthy Grady Sizemore in their lineup. Though Cleveland has a stellar closer in Chris Perez, the trouble is they can't get the game to him. The starting pitching is still an inconsistent area for the Indians and the same team that won just 69 games last season made no significant off-season changes.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers should challenge the Twins and the White Sox for the top spot in the AL Central after struggling to a .500 finish last season. Note that Detroit added Brad Penny to the rotation and Victor Martinez to the lineup. Martinez adds a solid stick to the lineup while Penny should chew up a lot of innings as he's generally known as a workhorse starter. The Tigers lineup looks solid, especially if Miguel Cabrera returns to form. Jim Leyland is a solid manager that can pull this team together (getting it to gel properly) for "one more run" this season.

Kansas City Royals

The Royals finished with 67 wins last season and, unfortunately for Kansas City fans, a similar result seems to be on tap for this season as well. Though the Royals have a number of former Braves on the roster (thanks to former Atlanta assistant GM Dayton Moore calling the shots here as GM), this franchise is still years away from being confused with a successful franchise like Atlanta. The farm system is stacked for Kansas City but this year's major league roster looks to be short on pitching talent once again. We like the looks of this lineup again (the Royals hit .274 last season) and we expect the Royals totals could be good for plenty of "overs" this season!

Minnesota Twins

After a big season (94 wins), the Twins are headed for a drop this season. Not only are the ChiSox and Tigers poised to make an upward move, Minnesota will be hurt by a pitching rotation that is declining. The Francisco Liriano situation (neglected offseason training) was not a good way to start spring training. Other starting pitchers struggled at times last season and they appear to be poised for a fall. Nick Blackburn often got hit hard, Carl Pavano is hard to trust, and Brian Duensing was inconsistent. However, it's hard to ignore that manager Ron Gardenhire has had just one losing season in his nine seasons. Still, some "chinks in the armor" of this pitching staff will ultimately spell a season closer to .500 than 94 wins this year in the Twin Cities.