American League Central preview

Cleveland Indians

2016: 94-67, first place, A.L. champions, lost to Chicago Cubs in World Series.

Outlook: With perhaps the league’s deepest pitching staff, the Indians are an A.L. favorite and appear poised to return to the World Series. Last year, they exceeded expectations and built a 3-1 Series lead against the Cubs before losing three straight – including a dramatic Game 7 at home. One elusive win from the franchise’s first championship since 1948. This season, the Indians will try to finish the job. There are injury concerns with Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis, who won’t be ready for the start of the season because of shoulder inflammation. Jose Ramirez could slide over to help fill in at second base. But the addition of Edwin Encarnacion finally gives Cleveland the intimidating, middle-of-the-order slugger the club has coveted since the glory days of Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Albert Belle. Cleveland is a baseball town again as Indians fans spent on tickets this winter and are rallying around the club the way they did back in the mid-1990s. Francisco Lindor is on the cusp of superstardom, and one of the Indians’ top priorities should be signing him to a long-term deal while he’s still affordable.

Detroit Tigers

2016: 86-75, second place.

Outlook: The Tigers have made no secret of the fact that they’ll need to cut costs soon, but they’ve generally put off doing so. Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Ian Kinsler are back, and Detroit is ready to make another bid for a postseason spot. The Tigers fell just short of a wild card last season, and the team’s top players aren’t getting any younger, so this could be the last shot for Detroit to win big before a significant overhaul. Verlander and Cabrera are still producing like stars, and Michael Fulmer won Rookie of the Year honors last year. If the Tigers are going to take another step forward, they’ll probably need Jordan Zimmermann and Daniel Norris to perform well after both dealt with injury problems a season ago. Speaking of injuries: J.D. Martinez sprained his right foot March 18 and is expected to miss the start of the season. The Tigers finished eight games behind Cleveland in 2016. Closing that gap won’t be easy, and a lot might depend on whether Detroit can stay healthy.

Kansas City Royals

2016: 81-81, third place.

Outlook: Royals GM Dayton Moore thinks his starting rotation is the best it has been during his tenure, even if just about every spot is tenuous. He also thinks Kansas City has more power at the plate this year thanks to Mike Moustakas’ return from a torn ACL and the signing of Brandon Moss. Paulo Orlando (.302, 5, 43, 14 SBs) will replace Jorge Soler in right field at the start of the season. But there are plenty of question marks up and down the lineup, not to mention on the pitching staff, and several things must break right for Kansas City to make noise in the A.L. Central and take a run at its third World Series appearance in four years.

Chicago White Sox

2016: 78-84, fourth place.

Outlook: Lots of losses and trades. Jose Quintana and Todd Frazier likely will be shipped out at some point this season, and David Robertson also could be on the move in the right deal. The White Sox seem fully committed to a major overhaul, and they added several prospects when they traded away Chris Sale and Adam Eaton over the winter. But it could be a rough couple of years while general manager Rick Hahn tries to establish a more reliable pipeline of talent throughout the organization. In the meantime, the White Sox still have Tim Anderson, who was impressive in his first major league stint last year. Jose Abreu is going for his fourth straight season of at least 25 homers and 100 RBIs.

Minnesota Twins

2016: 59-103, fifth place.

Outlook: The Twins ranked a respectable sixth in the American League in total bases and eighth in OPS despite their abysmal record last year. Byron Buxton’s sparkling September, following a second straight frustrating summer, restored his and the club’s confidence in the 2012 second overall draft pick. Brian Dozier probably hit his power ceiling in 2016, but if Buxton and Miguel Sano can strike out less and get on base more there’s the potential in place for a productive offense. Kenny Vargas hit his way back into contention for the DH spot with a decent finish to 2016, but the pressure is on him to prove he’s worth a spot in the lineup with a strong performance this spring by ByungHo Park, who struggled badly to adjust to major league pitching in his arrival from South Korea last year.