MLB Team X-Factors for 2017, Part II: AL Central
By Jim Turvey
We now stand less than three weeks away from Opening Day. Less than three weeks until you call out sick on that first glorious Monday to watch baseball from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. (or 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. if you’re one of those lucky West Coasters).
On Tuesday, we began this journey by looking at the 2017 x-factors for the American League East. We named a closer looking to repeat history (or come close to it), a big bat that will need to fill a Papi-sized hole, a 6’7″ behemoth with a 44 percent strikeout rate, a Colorado transplant and an oft-injured middle infielder.
Today we will look at the AL Central. This division has sent the AL representative to the World Series in each of the past three seasons and four of the past five. It is a division with star power and star prospects. It is also a division I could see going one of 100 different ways. A lot of what determines those 100 different ways will be the production of these next five guys.