At the outset of the season, most of the sports blowhards out there (this writer included) pretty much agreed on how the AL Central would shake out:
- Tigers
- Indians
- - 5. Whatever
And at the time, that all made sense. The Twins were a shell of their former selves, the Royals were still the Royals and the White Sox were counting on Nick Swisher to lead a revolution. We all know the Sox and Twins have managed to defy expectation, both teams fighting for the Central crown almost despite themselves, but what no one seems to be talking about is the absolute riddle happening at the bottom of the division.
Those Royals, for one, sit only half a game out of fourth place, giving the ALC’s perpetual joke a realistic shot at their first step out of the basement since 2003. Even better, the Indians, mere months removed from playing out of their heads and ultimately folding in the ALCS, fell back in a big way and saw no better option than to dismantle the team and start the next five-year plan two years ahead of schedule.
But oh, those wacky TIgers. The team that should have scored 1,000 runs and actually had their fans excited for no good reason besides their willingness to buy an All-Star team is now bringing in our old friend Freddy Garcia for. . . well, no one really knows what that was about. By actually working the Murder City Faithful up, the Tigers front office may have committed the ultimate sin. Were they to have simply won out of nowhere, as they did in 2006, they could have been special; by falling short in such spectacular fashion despite such a high-firepower lineup they’ve instead fashioned themselves into something like the Yankees. Minus the non-stop winning.
No matter what happens from here on out – and we all know it’s too soon for sweeping statements about what will befall either of this division’s two so-called contenders – there’s really only one way to look at it: the AL Central is, once again, the great failure of the Major Leagues. Winners are losers, losers are winners and the only thing left to fight for is the right to get crushed by whoever manages to lose the AL East.
Anyone see that one coming?