Cleveland Indians Players Compared To Their Central Counterparts

Comparing Cleveland Indians Players to Their Central Division Counterparts

The American League Central is gearing up to be one of the most competitive divisions in baseball in 2016. They have the reigning world champions (Kansas City Royals), one of the best rotations in baseball (Cleveland Indians), a young team on the cusp of contending (Minnesota Twins), and a team that added a lot of talent in the offseason (Chicago White Sox). All of these teams have stellar players, don’t get me wrong, but there appears to be some parity up and down the division that both help and harm the Cleveland Indians.

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Starting Pitching

This is the area where the Cleveland Indians will have a clear leg up on the rest of division, as well as on most of baseball. Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco are one of the best one-two punches in baseball, and the dominance doesn’t stop at them. Danny Salazar finally looked like he put it together last season, Trevor Bauer took (another) step in the right direction, and Cody Anderson won American League pitcher of the month in September.

Meanwhile, Mike Pelfrey will be the fifth starter for the Tigers. The Mike Pelfrey who has a career record of 61-81 with a 4.52 ERA. The Chicago White Sox will have a starting rotation that will consist of Mat Latos, who has been run out of the last two places he has pitched. He also has a cat named Cat Latos. That doesn’t affect his pitching at all, I just think it’s funny. The Royals have a solid pitching rotation, but no one that will keep you up at night. While the Tigers just spent $11o million on Jordan Zimmerman (which says more about the state of pitching in baseball than the Tigers, but I digress). 

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