2012 MLB Predictions: AL Central

The American League Central Division might be the easiest division to predict out of all of baseball.  The Detroit Tigers should have no problem winning the American League Central for a second straight year.  The Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, and Minnesota Twins will likely all have issues scoring runs this season.  The Tigers will not have a problem with that.

They won 95 games a season ago, and they signed Prince Fielder to 9 years $214 million deal.   Detroit will be without Victor Martinez who suffered an injury to his left ACL, but still, the Tigers should have one of the most destructive offensives in the game.

Along with Martinez, the Tigers will have Magglio Ordoniz, Carlos Guillien, and Victor Matinez absent from their lineup.  Still, they might have 6 guys that could smash 20 home runs this year with proven hitters like Ryan Raburn, Brandon Inge, Jhonny Peralta, and Alex Avila around Cabrera and Fielder.

Justin Verlander is the ace of the rotation and there’s no reason to think he can’t compete to win the Cy Young once again.  The rotation after Verlander is solid with Doug Fister, and Max Scherzer but the Tigers might have one weakness.

Defensively, at the corners the Tigers could struggle with Miguel Cabrera moving across the diamond to play third base with Prince Fielder over at first.  It could possibly be one of the heaviest infields of all time, but as stated, the offensive production should be good enough to win the division by a sizeable margin.

The rest of the American League Central Division won’t be able to keep pace with Detroit.