The 2013 MLB season is only a few weeks away. Spring Training action is going on right now, which means Opening Day is right around the corner. We\u2019re taking a division-by-division look at betting odds and team by team season win totals. Let\u2019s take a look at the AL Central. <\/p>\n
Detroit was expected to run away with the AL Central Division in 2012, but the Chicago White Sox led the division most of the way. In the end, it was the Tigers who put together a good last month to win the division as Chicago sputtered a bit down the stretch.<\/p>\n
The rest of the division was extremely weak in 2012. Can anyone else from the division move up the ladder this year? The oddsmakers are once again expecting a Detroit rout in the AL Central. Is there anything that could derail the Tigers train in 2013?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
MLB 2013 Previews and Predictions- AL Central<\/b><\/h3>\n
AL Central Odds: Detroit Tigers<\/b><\/p>\n
Season Win Total: 92.5<\/b><\/p>\n
The Tigers are expected to dominate this division, as evidenced by their price of -290 to win the AL Central. It\u2019s a combination of the Tigers having one of the best rosters in baseball and the AL Central being so weak that makes this such a high price. The lineup disappointed for part of the 2012 season, but they should be much better with a healthy Victor Martinez in the lineup. Torii Hunter was also a very good offseason pickup for this lineup.<\/p>\n
Justin Verlander is the top pitcher in the game right now, and the Tigers have done a nice job putting together a quality rotation after him. Doug Fister has been excellent since coming over from Seattle, and Max Scherzer was one of the best pitchers in baseball down the stretch last year. Anibal Sanchez is a terrific number four starter. The one major question mark for this team is their bullpen.<\/p>\n
AL Central Odds: Chicago White Sox +650<\/b>
\nSeason Win Total: 81<\/b><\/p>\nCan the White Sox make another run at a division title? They led the AL Central for more than 100 days last year, but they couldn\u2019t hold on in September. Jake Peavy\u2019s resurgence helped lead the rotation in 2012. Adam Dunn and Alex Rios both had great bounce back campaigns to lead the offense. They\u2019ll need all three of those guys to be excellent again this year. The White Sox lineup had several guys who put together career years last year, and I\u2019m not sure they can repeat that performance.<\/p>\n
Chicago will need guys like John Danks and Gavin Floyd to be better in the middle of the rotation this year. Danks missed almost all year with an injury, while Floyd had a disappointing 2012 campaign. There won\u2019t be any margin for error in Chicago, so these guys have to be on their game. Can the White Sox bullpen find a replacement for Sergio Santos?<\/p>\n
AL Central Odds: Kansas City Royals +875<\/b>
\nSeason Win Total: 77.5<\/b><\/p>\nIt seems like every year the Royals are expected to break out and contend for the division, and they end up near the bottom of the division every time. Kansas City fans are definitely getting tired of waiting for a winner. The lineup struggled much more than expected last year because of Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas having a sophomore slump. Those two are high quality prospects who I expect to be much better this year. Billy Butler is one of the most consistent .300 hitters in the game. This offense should score runs.<\/p>\n
The problem here is their pitching staff. James Shields was a nice offseason pickup, but behind him the Royals starting staff is a major question mark. I wouldn\u2019t want to depend on Wade Davis and Luke Hochevar based on their past history. The Royals will be better, but the pitching staff will keep them getting above .500. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n
AL Central Odds: Cleveland Indians +1,100<\/b>
\nSeason Win Total: 77.5<\/b><\/p>\nWho are these guys anyways? This team might have made more changes than anyone in the offseason. The outfield looks completely different with Drew Stubbs and Michael Bourn as everyday starters now. Lonnie Chisenhall is going to get a chance to play third base every day, and he could be very good. Asdrubal Cabrera was banged up a lot of last year, but he is still one of the best hitting middle infielders in the game.<\/p>\n
The starting rotation is the problem. Ubaldo Jimenez continues to be a disappointment, and Justin Masterson took a big step back last year. Both of those two have to pull it together for the Tribe to contend in 2013. I think this team has more upside than most in this division, so the \u2018over\u2019 on the season win total might be a nice play.<\/p>\n
AL Central Odds: Minnesota Twins +2,200<\/b>
\nSeason Win Total: 67.5<\/b><\/p>\nIt was just a few years ago when it was the Twins who dominated the AL Central every year. In the past two seasons, the Twins have lost 95 or more games twice in a row. Joe Mauer is in his prime and he has Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham around him in the order. The Twins should hit quite a few homers and score a lot of runs, but it isn\u2019t likely to be enough.<\/p>\n
Minnesota was dead last in the majors in team ERA last year, and I don\u2019t see any reason to be upbeat about an improvement this season. The Twins are choosing between Vance Worley and Kevin Correia for their Opening Day starter. It\u2019s going to be a long season for the Twins.<\/p>\n
AL Central Prediction: Detroit Tigers (-290)<\/b><\/h3>\n
Detroit is better than last season, and this should be the year they lap the rest of the field in the Central.<\/p>\n
View The MLB Cappers Leaderboard For 2012 – Picks Packages for 2013 On Sale! \u2014\u2013><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Handicapping MLB 2013 Division Odds \u2013 AL Central The 2013 MLB season is only a few weeks away. Spring Training action is going on right now, which means Opening Day is right around the corner. We\u2019re taking a division-by-division look at betting odds and team by team season win totals. Let\u2019s take a look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":34577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[58268,58269,11341,12446,12448,25624,25620,58273,58256,58257,1871,2722,25623,25621,11578,27053,5921,11581,11580,11576,58272,25629,25625,58270,58274,58271],"class_list":["post-60443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2013-al-central-lines","tag-2013-american-league-central-odds","tag-al-central","tag-al-central-odds","tag-american-league-central","tag-baseball-over-under-lines","tag-baseball-season-wins-lines","tag-indians-2013-lines","tag-mlb-2013-division-odds","tag-mlb-2013-win-total-odds","tag-mlb-futures","tag-mlb-lines","tag-mlb-season-over-under-odds","tag-mlb-season-wins-future-lines","tag-mlb-season-wins-total-odds","tag-odds-to-win-the-al-central","tag-over-under-betting-odds","tag-over-under-mlb-lines","tag-over-under-mlb-odds","tag-overunder-betting-picks","tag-royals-2013-lines","tag-season-wins-over-under-mlb-lines","tag-sportsbook-baseball-lines","tag-tigers-2013-lines","tag-twins-2013-lines","tag-white-sox-2013-lines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60443"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107976,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60443\/revisions\/107976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}