The 2014 MLB season is just about here 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. <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at the AL Central.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t easy, but the Detroit Tigers won the AL Central once again last season. Cleveland\u2019s red hot September brought them to within a game of Detroit in 2013. The Tigers are the clear favorites in the AL Central once again this year. Can anyone dethrone Detroit in the AL Central? Odds listed are from BetOnline.<\/p>\n
MLB 2014 Previews & Predictions- AL Central <\/p>\nAL Central Odds to Win: Detroit Tigers -225<\/h3>\n
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Season Win Total: 90<\/b><\/p>\n
The Detroit Tigers won the division last year, but they didn\u2019t just rest on their laurels in the offseason. Detroit got busy and made some big moves. Ian Kinsler is the team\u2019s new starting second baseman. <\/p>\n
Kinsler\u2019s offense will be nice, but it will likely be the huge upgrade defensively at second base that helps the Tigers the most. Joe Nathan is the team\u2019s new closer, and that is an area that has been an issue for the team for quite a while. Nathan locks down this role, and he has been one of the most consistent closers in the game for many years.<\/p>\n
Detroit\u2019s starting rotation is amazing in every way. Justin Verlander is the team\u2019s best pitcher, but the team\u2019s number two (Max Scherzer) won the AL Cy Young award last year. Anibal Sanchez is as good of a number three pitcher as you\u2019ll find as well. Rick Porcello and Drew Smyly will round out the rotation. Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball when healthy, and if he stays healthy he\u2019ll tee off on opposing pitching all season long.<\/p>\n
Season Win Total: 82.5<\/b><\/p>\n
Kansas City took a significant step forward last year by winning 86 games. The Royals haven\u2019t made the playoffs since Ronald Reagan was in office. They are on the right track, but they have a tough road ahead of them as well. This division is getting better, and the Royals are going to have to get a little better starting pitching and timely hitting to get back to the postseason.<\/p>\n
Ervin Santana was the team\u2019s biggest loss in the offseason, and the signings of Omar Infante and Jason Vargas were the biggest pickups. Kansas City looks very similar to last year\u2019s team, but I\u2019m not sure the team\u2019s bullpen can be top five in the majors once again. This bullpen outperformed in a big way last season.<\/p>\n
Season Win Total: 80.5<\/b><\/p>\n
The oddsmakers certainly think the Indians success last year was a blip, because they posted the team\u2019s season win total at more than 10 games lower than their final win tally from 2013. While I don\u2019t see this team as a serious threat to beat the Tigers in the division, I do believe the Indians are much better than this win total would suggest. \u00a0Terry Francona has proven himself to be one of the best managers in the business, and he has lots of talent to work with here.
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\nThe losses of Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez do hurt, but not as much as some people seem to believe. The pitching staff has no clear cut number one starter, but there\u2019s lots of depth Asdrubal Cabrera had a horrible season last year, and it\u2019s safe to assume he\u2019ll be better in 2014. Yan Gomes helps the team in a big way, especially on the defensive side where he is much better than Carlos Santana. The Indians have no major weaknesses, and I think this team goes over this win total.<\/p>\n
Season Win Total: 76.5<\/b><\/p>\n
Last year was a total trainwreck for the Chicago White Sox. The team went 63-99. The White Sox made some big moves in the offseason by signing Jose Abreu and Adam Eaton. Abreu is the guy the team is really counting on. Can he be another Yasiel Puig? That\u2019s what Chicago needs from him. The offense is aging and full of guys who strike out far too much.<\/p>\n
The pitching staff has a terrific ace in Chris Sale, but the rest of the staff isn\u2019t good at all. It doesn\u2019t help that the defense behind them is among the worst in baseball. In addition, the bullpen is very weak. I don\u2019t like this team in 2014, and I like the under 76.5 a lot here.<\/p>\n
Season Win Total: 70.5<\/b><\/p>\n
The Minnesota Twins have fallen hard and fast. This used to be the team to beat in the AL Central. Many were surprised to see Ron Gardenhire return for another season as the team\u2019s manager. Ricky Nolasco is the team\u2019s new number one starter. He is a pretty good pitcher, but I don\u2019t think he\u2019s a number one. Phil Hughes was signed in the offseason, and I think he has a chance to resurrect his career in Minnesota. The strength of this team is their bullpen.<\/p>\n
Offensively, the Twins have a bunch of question marks. Joe Mauer is clearly a star and Josh Willingham is consistently good. The rest of the lineup looks weak. It\u2019s hard to imagine this team finishing any better than fourth in this division.<\/p>\n
AL Central Prediction: Detroit Tigers (-225)<\/b><\/p>\n
Detroit is the most complete team in the division, and arguably the most complete team in the American League. Cleveland may be worth a shot if you are a value player, but I like the Indians season win total over and the White Sox win total under as the best plays from this division.<\/p>\n
Handicapping MLB 2014 Division Odds \u2013 American League Central The 2014 MLB season is just about here 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":73313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[61272,61273,25624,61199,1871,11578,27053,11581,25629,25625],"class_list":["post-73300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2014-al-central-lines","tag-2014-american-league-central-odds","tag-baseball-over-under-lines","tag-mlb-2014-division-odds","tag-mlb-futures","tag-mlb-season-wins-total-odds","tag-odds-to-win-the-al-central","tag-over-under-mlb-lines","tag-season-wins-over-under-mlb-lines","tag-sportsbook-baseball-lines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73300","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=73300"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73310,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73300\/revisions\/73310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}