Based on sports analysts and pundits, it appears that the AL Central will come down to a battle between the White Sox and Minnesota Twins. The loss of Joe Nathan definitely tips the balance closer to parity with regards to these two teams. Perusing the schedules, I noticed that we have lucked out quite significantly as we play some weaker competition compared to the Twins in Interleague action. In years past, we had the 6 games against the very competitive Cubs teams when they were at their peak. However, they have aged and are slipping toward mediocrity. The Sox play the Nationals, Pirates, and the Marlins. These are bottom of the barrel type teams. The Twins, on the other hand, play the Rockies(NL West Division co-favorite), Phillies (WS Runnerup), and the Mets. I feel like this schedule imbalance can be the type of break to edge the Twins in the division race.
Here is the Interleague schedule for the Sox and Twins:
White Sox
Home
Marlins
Braves
Cubs
Away
Cubs
Pirates
Nationals
Twins
Home
Brewers
Braves
Rockies
Away
Brewers
Phillies
Mets