Seth Wells | @Seth_Wells22
The AL Central was born in 1994 and consisted of five teams; The Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals. That alignment stayed in place until 1998, when the Milwaukee Brewers went to the NL Central and the Detroit Tigers joined from the AL East. Within the last ten years, the AL Central has seen a few of its members reach the World Series. The only AL Central team to win the World Series was the White Sox in 2005.
– Royals in 2014
-Tigers in 2006 and 2012
– White Sox in 2005 (Won the World Series)
The Tigers and the Royals were the consistent bottom feeders in the AL Central until the 2006 season when the Tigers had a memorable run to the world series. Now the Tigers have won four straight division titles and have had moderate postseason success. The Royals have since had their own renaissance and reached the world season this year, yet they have never won an AL Central division title. The number of division titles for each team is as follows:
Cleveland Indians– 7
Minnesota Twins– 6
Detroit Tigers– 4
Chicago White Sox– 3
Kansas City Royals– 0
Overall the AL Central has been one of the more balanced divisions in all of baseball. In the past 10 years the AL Central had a representative in the world series four times, tied for the most amongst all MLB divisions with the AL East and the NL Central. The NL Central though has sent the same team, the St. Louis Cardinals, all four times. There has been a constant flow in power, other than the Tigers being able to edge out 4 straight division titles. Here’s a look at the amount of wins each team in the division has had over the past 10 years.
The White Sox are the lone AL Central team to have won a World Series under this current alignment. Their World Series title came back in 2005 when they won 99 games in the regular season and the AL Central division title. They dominated the World Series that year by sweeping the Houston Astros in four games. That series was highlighted by a Paul Konerko grand slam in game 2, and this pitching performance from Freddy Garcia in game 4 to slam the door on the Astros.
The White Sox, Twins and Indians were always battling at the top of the division until the 2006 Detroit Tigers team took the baseball world by storm and reached the postseason as a wild-card. After being considered an afterthought for most of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, they finally fielded a winner. A magical run that no one saw coming was highlighted by one of the most memorable postseason home runs to date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTUvp0R2VAM
The Tigers magical season ended in the World Series when the St. Louis Cardinals beat them in five games. This season however helped propel the Tigers to a very successful run over the last eight seasons with four division titles and two World Series appearances.
Most recently, the Royals ended their 29-year postseason drought with a wild-card berth in this year’s playoffs. The Royals dominated early in the postseason by winning their first eight games, sending them to the World Series. They ran into the San Fransisco Giants, winners of 3 of the past 5 world series, and lost in an amazing seven game series. The Royals magical run was highlighted early on when catcher Salvador Perez sent them to the ALDS with a walk-off hit in the Wild Card game vs the Oakland Athletics.
The AL Central as it stands right now has three real contenders for the division title in 2015 in the Tigers, Royals, and Indians. These teams, along with the young and talented White Sox and Twins, help make the AL Central one of the most competitive divisions in all of baseball.
Seth Wells covers the MLB and Butler Men’s Basketball for BU:30.
srwells@butler.edu | @Seth_Wells22