Once again, the AL Central isn’t looking like the strongest division in all of baseball. With that being said it’s definitely an interesting one. There’s only one team that seems completely hopeless, while the other four have varying degrees of realistic hope and hope that’s feasible but may require some of the optimistic delusion that abounds during this time of year.
Now it’s time to take a look at what this division may have to offer here in 2026. Will the Guardians maintain their tenuous grip
on the divisional title? Will the Tigers finally emerge to claim the title after they knocked Cleveland out of last year’s Postseason? Will the Royals step it up and take the crown, themselves? Will the Twins recover from a disastrous 2025? Will the White Sox recover from a disastrous existence in general?
Chicago White Sox
2025 Season: 60-102
Notable Additions: INF Luisangel Acuña, RP Seranthony Domínguez, SP Erick Fedde, OF Austin Hays, RP Jordan Hicks, RP Anthony Kay, INF Munetaka Murakami, SP Sean Newcomb
When will they play the Braves: Tuesday, June 9, Wednesday, June 10 and Thursday, June 11, al at 7:40 p.m. ET at Rate Field
Well, they should be better than they were last season? Granted, that’s not saying much since 102 losses in 2025 was actually an improvement itself after their historically-bad 2024 campaign but hey, progress is progress, right? Unfortunately for Chicago, it’ll likely be slow progress since this is still looking like a last-place team for not just the AL Central but the American League as a whole.
The White Sox did manage to pull of a bit of a splash move for the first time in what feels like ages after they ended up signing Japanese posting Munetaka Murakami. Was this just a case of the White Sox swooping in on what ended up being a wildly depressing market for Murakami after it turned out that a lot of MLB scouts weren’t exactly confident in the lefty bat’s chances of transforming from NPB slugger to MLB slugger? Probably, since they ended up only getting him for two years and $34 million. With that being said, someone was going to give Murakami a chance and I applaud GM Chris Getz and the White Sox for at least trying.
That’s just about all the credit I can give them, though: The White Sox are trying! I believe that they have officially bottomed out from the absolute cratering that they suffered in 2024 and should at least be more than a speedbump for the contenders in the AL Central. I do like the additions of Seranthony Dominguez and Anthony Kay on two-year deals and the Austin Hays deal could end up being two years depending on how things go thanks to a mutual option. I can’t say that I’m too enthused about them signing Sean Newcomb and Erick Fedde for their pitching staff but hey, you gotta have arms and they are certainly arms.
As you can imagine with a team of this caliber, though, the main focus is going to be on the young big leaguers and prospects developing. The White Sox may have something with Colson Montgomery at shortstop (even though he’s apparently struggling through spring training right now), Miguel Vargas is starting to look like he’s going to be a solid third baseman, Chase Meidroth should provide solid defense at second and Kyle Teel also seems like he’ll be a reliable catcher as well (even though he’ll be out for a bit due to a hamstring strain). Add Murakami at first base and suddenly this is not a bad-looking infield at all! If there were any signs of life in the outfield or at the DH spot then this could’ve been a really interesting team!
Instead, Chicago’s likely to languish at the bottom of the AL Central yet again. At least they’ll have a handful of consensus Top-100 prospects to keep an eye on and they’ll also be picking first overall in this year’s draft. Also, notorious owner Jerry Reinsdorf is on the way out (not immediately but sometime in the future) so that alone is worth celebrating for White Sox fans. They just probably won’t have a lot to celebrate on the field any time soon.
Cleveland Guardians
2025 Season: 88-74
Notable Additions: RP Shawn Armstrong, RP Conor Brogdon, C Austin Hedges, OF Rhys Hoskins, RP Colin Holderman
When do they play the Braves: Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11 at 7:15 p.m. ET. Sunday, April 12 at 7:20 p.m. ET. All games at Truist Park.
The Guardians had a lowkey stinker of an offseason. They followed up a shocking AL Central win (despite that being three divisional titles out of the past four seasons for them) by doing little-to-nothing to add to their lineup in the offseason. Sure, they did make the Postseason last season as divisional champions but they somehow pulled that off with a run differential of -6. The Tigers ended up dumping them out of the AL Wild Card and theyr responded to that early exit by making Rhys Hoskins (on a minor league deal, no less) their “crown jewel” signing heading into the season.
That’s the main question for this team: Will the offense be able to pull their weight this season? On paper, it’s looking like this is going to be another season where they’ll be leaning heavily on their pitching staff while hoping that José Ramirez is the one who’ll be doing the heavy lifting at the plate. There’s really only two possibilities at play here: Either they figure that the offense should be a lot better than it was last season (despite not doing much to improve said offense) or ownership just decided to cheap out on the baseball operations. Considering that Ramirez is the only player on this team currently making more than $8 million, I think we know which one is the more likely possibility.
The pitching staff should be perfectly fine. Tanner Bibee has proven that he’s a very good starter, Gavin WIlliams isn’t too far behind and they’ve got a wealth of options for their rotation with Logan Allen, Joey Cantillo, Slade Cecconi and Parker Messick in the mix. Closer Cade Smith is done floating under the radar and is starting to get recognized as being one of the best closers in the game right now with a four-seamer that has proven to be nearly un-hittable. It’s going to be tough to score runs on this crew.
On the flip side, it’s going to be tough for the Guardians to score runs on anybody. Aside from Ramirez, Steven Kwan figures to be the only sure thing to provide some consistent help i the hitting department. There’s a lot of hype surrounding Chase DeLauter but like any other prospect, he’s going to have to prove it at the big league level. Outside of Kwan and potentially DeLauter, there is not a lot to get excited about when it comes to tis lineup. Maybe Rhys Hoskins will revive his career and deliver some consistent hitting as well? There’s just not too much hope for this lineup to improve over what they did last season and the pitching staff will have to be nails all season in order for this team to have a shot at retaining the AL Central crown.
Detroit Tigers
2025 Season: 87-75
Notable Additions: SP Framber Valdez, 2B Gleyber Torres, RP Kyle Finnegan, SP Justin Verlander, RP Kenley Jansen, RP Drew Anderson
When do they play the Braves: Tuesday, April 29 and Wednesday, April 29 at 7:15 p.m. ET. Sunday, April 26 at 1:35 p.m. ET. All games at Truist Park.
There’s a very good chance that this could be the best (and last) opportunity that the Tigers will have to make some noise in the Postseason while having Tarik Skubal in their employ. Detroit didn’t exactly seem enthused about paying Skubal a record amount of money via arbitration and once again, ownership’s willingness (or reticence) to spend seems like it’ll play a major factor in whether or not Skubal will stick around. With that being said, he’s still here and is going to be here for the rest of the season (assuming the wheels don’t fall off and they end up being sellers at the deadline) so again, this appears to be an all-or-nothing season facing the Tigers here in 2026.
They did a lot of work on their pitching staff and their rotation looks like it’ll be the best in the AL Central. Framber Valdez is a huge addition and bringing back Justin Verlander is more than just a nostalgia play. Having Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize as middle-of-the-rotation guys is about as good as it’ll get for a lot of teams — even if they’ll be missing Reese Olson for the whole season. The bullpen should be reliable enough, with Will Vest and new acquisitions Kyle Finnegan and Kenley Jansen helping to fortify the relief pitching for this squad.
Unlike in Cleveland, this lineup should definitely be able to pull their fair share of the weight. Riley Greene should lead the way at the plate as he’s turned into a solidly above-average hitter. Gleyber Torres and Dillon Dingle shouldn’t be too far behind with their offense as well. FanGraphs Depth Charts projections believes that top prospect Kevin McGonigle is the real deal and if he (and a potential arrival from other top prospect Max Clark) performs as expected then the Tigers will definitely have a shot at making this crucial year count in a big way.
Kansas City Royals
2025 Season: 82-80
Notable Additions: OF Issac Collins, OF Lane Thomas, OF/DH Starling Marte, RP Alex Lange, RP Nick Mears, RP Matt Strahm
When do they play the Braves: Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 at 7:15 p.m ET. Sunday, March 29 at 1:35 p.m. ET. All games at Truist Park.
The Tigers may have the best pitcher in this division but the Royals absolutely have the best player in this division in the form of Bobby Witt Jr. Assuming everything goes like normal, Witt should be an MVP candidate yet again and he’s got all the tools to be one of those rare players who can leave a major impact on a game by himself. With that being said, this is the ultimate team sport and even the superstars in this sport will need help.
Fortunately for Witt, hep is here. Maikel Garcia is playing to Witt’s right at third base and that’s a very formidable side of the infield for any team to deal with. Jonathan India can be dangerous on his best day, Vinnie Pasquantino should be flying into the season after an encouraging performance in the World Baseball Classic and Salvador Perez still commands respect behind the dish. The outfield is especially intriguing with the most intriguing figure of all being Jac Caglianone. If Cags can live up to his potential then that could be huge for a team that is already pretty solid all-around. He’s got the potential to breakout and it would be massive for the Royals if this was the year where he did break out.
There’s also plenty to like about this pitching staff. Speaking of breakouts, Kris Bubic will be entering this season looking to prove that his breakout in 2025 is here to stay. Cole Ragans may have had his 2025 season curtailed by injuries but there’s plenty of reason to believe that if he stays healthy then he’ll be able to bounce back and return to the great form that he showed in 2024. Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo are both known commodities at this point and their veteran presence and steady mound production will keep this rotation afloat at times during this season. Noah Cameron should also be a very solid performer in this rotation as well.
The bullpen got a major boost with the addition of Matt Strahm and then Kansas City will have Lucas Erceg and Carlos Estévez to reply on out of the pen as well. John Schrieber and Nick Mears should also be effective as well. This entire squad is just really solid all-around and I honestly wouldn’t be shocked at all if they ended up being the ones to come out of this division as champions. The Tigers are tough as well but the Royals have what it takes to keep up and possibly even surpass Detroit.
Minnesota Twins
2025 Season: 70-92
Notable Additions: 1B/DH Josh Bell, C Victor Caratini, C Alex Jackson, 1B Eric Wagaman, IF Tristan Gray, RP Taylor Rogers
When do they play the Braves: Monday, August 17 and Tuesday, August 18 at 7:40 p.m. ET. Wednesday, August 19 at 1:40 p.m. ET. All games at Target Field.
I can’t think of many more teams who had a more depressing end to the season than the Twins did. Minnesota made a real effort at contending in 2025 and then proceeded to sell off just under half of their big-league talent once things failed to materialize. As a result, they ended up losing 90 games for the first time since 2016 and are now looking like longshots to contend ten years later here in 2026.
That’s due to the fact that Minnesota’s offseason dealings left a lot to be desired. A lot of this had to do with the fact that ownership decided to get involved with the offseason moves — so it’s not a coincidence at all that the team got cheaper when it comes to payroll. Sure, the talent is here for the Twins to make a surprise run to the Postseason — Byron Buxton is still around and you can do a lot worse than having players like Royce Lewis, Luke Keaschall and Ryan Jeffers around. Joe Ryan is still a perfectly capable top-of-the-rotation hurler and the rest of the rotation may not be spectacular (with guys like Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and Taj Bradley available) but it should be enough to make sure that the Twins aren’t terrible.
That’s basically what the Twins are going for this season — simply avoid losing 90 games again. Now granted, once you’re in the 80-loss territory then it’s a thin line between being mediocre and being a Wild Card contender so there’s certainly a universe where this all comes together for the Twins and they make a Postseason run. However, this is a team that’s going to need everything going their way and the stars aligning perfectly for them to bounce back from a 2025 teardown and a relatively inactive offseason to follow.
