Last year, the Sox went 32-44 against the AL Central. In the offseason, an already-stacked division got even better. All five teams may contend for first place. While I am happy with the acquisitions of Frazier/Lawrie/catchers etc., I am still unusually pessimistic entering the season. The reason for this pessimism is our division. Detroit's power bats, Kansas City's all-around team, Minnesota's young hitters, and Cleveland's pitching are all very scary, especially considering that 47% of our season will be spent playing these teams. This leads me to ask, how will we fare against our division rivals in 2016? I fear that our intra-division record may be what stops us from making the playoffs.

Last year, the Sox went 32-44 against the AL Central. In the offseason, an already-stacked division got even better. All five teams may contend for first place. While I am happy with the acquisitions of Frazier/Lawrie/catchers etc., I am still unusually pessimistic entering the season. The reason for this pessimism is our division. Detroit's power bats, Kansas City's all-around team, Minnesota's young hitters, and Cleveland's pitching are all very scary, especially considering that 47% of our season will be spent playing these teams. This leads me to ask, how will we fare against our division rivals in 2016? I fear that our intra-division record may be what stops us from making the playoffs.

 

Last time the Sox had a winning record vs the division was 2012 and that was the chance for making the playoffs before falling apart the last 2 weeks. If Sox are going to compete they need to probably have a winning record against the division.

Last time the Sox had a winning record vs the division was 2012 and that was the chance for making the playoffs before falling apart the last 2 weeks. If Sox are going to compete they need to probably have a winning record against the division.

Agreed. My point is that, with this division, that is a very tall task.

It will be a blood bath. I think they need to be .500

 

I don't think that's too much to ask.

The strange thing about this division is that there isn't much separation between the teams. I would say the Twins are still a clear step behind, as their kids still have some development to do, but realistically it isn't hard to draw up scenarios that see the Tigers, White Sox, Royals, and Indians finishing in any combination of 1st through 4th place. Health will be a huge thing, as that could break a teams season really quick if a star player goes down.

The strange thing about this division is that there isn't much separation between the teams. I would say the Twins are still a clear step behind, as their kids still have some development to do, but realistically it isn't hard to draw up scenarios that see the Tigers, White Sox, Royals, and Indians finishing in any combination of 1st through 4th place. Health will be a huge thing, as that could break a teams season really quick if a star player goes down.

 

I agree. It would be nice if for once it's the Sox that rise above the 80-85 win projection and take the crown with 90-92 wins. I really don't see anyone in the division getting more than 92 this season as there isn't really any team you'd expect to be awful and get easy wins against. And obviously there is no elite team on paper.

 

 

Ok, looking at this and looking at the teams in our division vs how we played against them last year. I think we need a few things to go in our favour this year.

 

Kansas City Royals

 

Part of last years issue was playing them at the wrong time. We opened the season on the road against them with Sale on the DL and Samardzija out to prove how rotten he was. We got swept as every starter got feasted upon and it wasn't pretty. Then we played them after the All-Star break and lost the series 3-1. With this years schedule looking better for us, hopefully this with the loss of Holland and Madson from the Pen should have us pick up a couple of games. We won 7 games against them which wasn't enough.

 

Minnesota Twins

 

Part of the issue was that this mob just got Chris Sale and destroyed him, They also seemed to feast on Sox pitching. We never won a series. We won a total of 6 games against them which is pitiful. To me, if we want to be a contender in this division, then we need to turn it around against the Twins and win some games. Strangely, Sale accounted for 4 of the losses and Samardzija for 3 of the wins.

 

Cleveland Indians

 

For some weird reason, we pitched well against this mob and hit well against them, we only seemed to struggle when Raburn produced and he is now away.

 

We went 10-9 against this mob (handing Kluber 2 losses) and 4 of those losses were in the last month of the season when we were out of things anyway. I have a feeling we may do better against this mob this season, especially with Raburn gone.

 

Detroit Tigers

 

We went 9-10 against this mob with 2 of the losses coming to Price pitching well and he's now gone. Also they won games with Lobstein and we lost 2 games with Montas pitching. There is the potential to pick up some wins here with Price gone.

 

So to summarise, if we can improve against the Twins and the Royals, we should do better in the division this year.

 

Part of that is Sale sitting down with Cooper to discuss how to approach the Twins hitters better and hopefully this combined with a better infield should see an improvement.

 

Two words why we won't win the division.

 

Ventura and LaRoche.

Or not tipping pitches...

Or not tipping pitches...

 

And not accusing the Tigers of tampering with/through the scoreboard...

I can't be the only one not worried about Sale vs. the Twins this year, right? Look up his 2013 stats against the Indians, they're actually worse than his numbers against Minnesota last year. Now look up Sale's ERA against the Indians from 2014-2015, it's pretty good.

Edited January 28, 201610 yr by OmarComing25

I can't be the only one not worried about Sale vs. the Twins this year, right? Look up his 2013 stats against the Indians, they're actually worse than his numbers against Minnesota last year. Now look up Sale's ERA against the Indians from 2014-2015, it's pretty good.

If they are battering him at that clip, they must have figured how he's tipping his pitches. Fix that, and they will be lost.

The good thing about this year's schedule is that they didn't front load the first 5 weeks with division games like last year. The Sox don't play the Tigers until Game 56 (barring postponements).

 

Breakdown of the first 55 (home-away, with record needed)

 

Cle 6-0 (4-2)

KC 3-4 (4-3)

Min 3-3 (3-3)

Oak 0-4 (2-2)

TB 0-3 (1-2)

LAA 4-0 (2-2)

Tex 3-3 (3-3)

Tor 0-3 (1-2)

Bal 0-4 (2-2)

Bos 3-0 (2-1)

NY 0-3 (1-2)

Hou 3-0 (2-1)

NYM 0-3 (1-2)

 

The aggregate of those records would be 28-27, in 25 home games and 30 road games.

 

If the Sox are 24-31 after 55 it won't matter that they're in the AL Central. It'll be another lost season.

 

That said, if you could promise me 10-9 against all four division teams right now, I'd take it.