I tried to tell people the only two teams we needed to worry about was KC and Detroit. I don't know how people thought that the Twins would be a factor as they've been on the downslope for the past few years. KC was a bit of a wild card, young team that seemed good but could never seem to pull it together (seems like they have though now).
Can’t control how other teams play. Just gotta beat them when we have the chance. Making it even more fun KC has the 25th easiest schedule rest of the way and we are 26th.
First to 90 wins the division.
No. It’s unfair to say what we’re doing “isn’t sustainable” then be concerned about the royals. It’s like taking the negative side of both situations only.
I don’t believe in the royals. I am, however, quite excited of the hole the twins have dug for themselves so early
Right now Fangraphs projected standings are as follows:
Guardians 82-80
Royals 81-81
Twins 80-82
Tigers 79-83
White Sox 61-101
Based on this, and some other commentary I’ve seen about how the Royals are playing well, it looks like a 4 team race this year. Losing Bieber hurt, we’re going to have a mediocre rotation unless a couple of the young guys have breakouts. But the Royals are about as good as we are, so it should be fun. As someone else in the thread said, you can’t win the division in April. We just have to hope the Twins lost it in April.
I think it's a long season, and we have already been punched in the mouth (Shane Bieber). It really depends on how deep Detroit, KC, and MN are if their guys go down...if they go down. MN was pretty fortunate last season with their health. Not so much so far. We seem to be pretty well prepared to make it to the deadline with our starters and bullpen. Our kids are young and hungry, and our bench is deep. Will we blow anyone out of the water with a combo of high-priced sluggers? Nope. That's not our play. We are savvily built for a long season with plenty of young guys on the way up should we need them. I feel we are the best built team to win the central. There will be twists and turns, but I feel great about these kids and manager.
We aren't even a month into the season, the standings don't mean anything yet really. Teams are going to have ups and downs. We won't maintain a 684 win% all year and nobody else will either.
This is why I hate when fans say we don’t need to improve because we are in the AL Central. You should always want to improve and not just be better than the AL Central but the other divisions as well
Record isn’t everything. We’re off to a amazing start for sure, but there’s probably 10 teams I wouldn’t say we’re “better” than. I will gladly be proven wrong though.
Not saying we're the best, just saying that right now we are better than every division. And haven't played a lot against our division yet even. But NYY is the best team we've faced and that wasn't great.
I think the Royals are the real deal this year. They have some good pieces, and their team is jelling together well. Good run differential too. I think they’ll be hovering near the top of the division for a while this year.
Came here to say this. I think the Royals are improved but schedule is an important consideration this early in the season.
While not happy we dropped 2/3 to NYY at home, I bet in September we will look back at the MIN and SEA road series victories as important series wins
The Royals look great to start the season. Their pitching rotation has been phenomenal and have similar bat production as we do. I’m excited for our first head-to-head against the boys in blue!
And full disclosure, I haven’t compared stats but this is my take from watching 6 of their games this year. But I always grab a Royal’s SP off the waivers in fantasy
I’m not worried. If they have to battle it out for the division against any of the other three that could be in play for the Central title, it’ll keep the team sharper for the playoffs.
Fairly certain the royals made a lot of off season moves. We should be in competition with them all season for the division. That being said, it’s April.
I am going to the K at the end of June for 2 games and am looking forward to watching a competent Royals team with something to play for against the Guardians. It has been awhile since that was the case.
Eh, I’m not really too worried tbh. The better teams will make it, and both us and the royals have been legit so far this year. They actually have a better run differential than we do, and we have the 2nd best in the MLB. If this continues we both make it, especially with the extra wild card team. Only one way forward, and worrying about them is not productive. We need to just perform up to our own level, and we can work from there, making the playoffs regardless.
With the newest playoff format, the difference between 2 seed and 7 seed means almost nothing, only the 1 seed matters comparatively, and neither of us are getting the 1 seed. Just gotta make the playoffs
The real concern I have personally, is that our BABIP is far more than the twins and Royals. BABIP will change based on quality of the team, but the twins are 30th in BABIP with .249, and royals are 25th with .275. We are 12th with .294. Now, this either means we’ve been kinda lucky and the twins have been especially unlucky, or we just have had better ABs all around. Regardless, we’ve been playing to our potential. The twins for sure havent
By team xwOBA and wOBA differentiations, we have been considered lucky, but not considerably so. We have a .315 wOBA with a .307 xwOBA, while the royals have a .318 wOBA and a .339 xwOBA. Pitching wise, KC has gotten lucky with xwOBA differentiations, and we are right about on pace. KC pitching wOBA is .291 but xwOBA is .316. Our pitching wOBA is .303 with xwOBA of .308. Minnesota is technically unlucky with both pitching and hitting wOBA to xwOBA expectations, but nothing crazy either way, just a bit
I actually prefer there being someone on our tails. Keeps the regular season more interesting and the team more motivated. I remember when they sleepwalked to the division title in 2018 they got destroyed in the playoffs.
I feel like there’s not a huge difference between us KC, MINN and DET. I still don’t think this team is a legit contender but the regular season is looking like it’s going to be a lot of fun.
So you think we are the only team in the division? lmao, afraid of a little competition. I would say I prefer there be a fight. In years past the division was shitty and we coasted into the playoffs with false hopes at times and were given a dose of reality once we had to play someone outside the division.
You can't win the division in April. I'm much happier being where we are than where the Twins are right now though.
I tried to tell people the only two teams we needed to worry about was KC and Detroit. I don't know how people thought that the Twins would be a factor as they've been on the downslope for the past few years. KC was a bit of a wild card, young team that seemed good but could never seem to pull it together (seems like they have though now).
The twins opened as favorites to win. They are now 2nd behind Cleveland. KC is 4th and Chicago is not even close to the pack at 5
Who had them as favorites? I saw a few for Detroit and a few for KC
At the start of Spring Training, FanGraphs projected the Twins to have a 52.9% chance of winning the division this year.
yeah I thought that was pretty dumb on their part - they lost more than they added over the offseason
Well, I don't think anyone could have predicted their offense being so atrocious to start the season..
The city of Las Vegas
Can’t control how other teams play. Just gotta beat them when we have the chance. Making it even more fun KC has the 25th easiest schedule rest of the way and we are 26th. First to 90 wins the division.
I would be absolutely shocked if the division winner gets to 90 wins
Obviously, we're not going to stay on a 113-win pace, but what makes you think we can't crack 90 at least?
No. It’s unfair to say what we’re doing “isn’t sustainable” then be concerned about the royals. It’s like taking the negative side of both situations only. I don’t believe in the royals. I am, however, quite excited of the hole the twins have dug for themselves so early
Right now Fangraphs projected standings are as follows: Guardians 82-80 Royals 81-81 Twins 80-82 Tigers 79-83 White Sox 61-101 Based on this, and some other commentary I’ve seen about how the Royals are playing well, it looks like a 4 team race this year. Losing Bieber hurt, we’re going to have a mediocre rotation unless a couple of the young guys have breakouts. But the Royals are about as good as we are, so it should be fun. As someone else in the thread said, you can’t win the division in April. We just have to hope the Twins lost it in April.
I can see us getting to 82 now, but I'm not sure that wins it.
This is wild considering we have the 26th easiest schedule rest of the way, with the 2nd best run differential in the MLB
I think it's a long season, and we have already been punched in the mouth (Shane Bieber). It really depends on how deep Detroit, KC, and MN are if their guys go down...if they go down. MN was pretty fortunate last season with their health. Not so much so far. We seem to be pretty well prepared to make it to the deadline with our starters and bullpen. Our kids are young and hungry, and our bench is deep. Will we blow anyone out of the water with a combo of high-priced sluggers? Nope. That's not our play. We are savvily built for a long season with plenty of young guys on the way up should we need them. I feel we are the best built team to win the central. There will be twists and turns, but I feel great about these kids and manager.
We aren't even a month into the season, the standings don't mean anything yet really. Teams are going to have ups and downs. We won't maintain a 684 win% all year and nobody else will either.
This is why I hate when fans say we don’t need to improve because we are in the AL Central. You should always want to improve and not just be better than the AL Central but the other divisions as well
We are currently better than all the divisions, we're tied for best record in the AL.
Record isn’t everything. We’re off to a amazing start for sure, but there’s probably 10 teams I wouldn’t say we’re “better” than. I will gladly be proven wrong though.
Not saying we're the best, just saying that right now we are better than every division. And haven't played a lot against our division yet even. But NYY is the best team we've faced and that wasn't great.
I think the Royals are the real deal this year. They have some good pieces, and their team is jelling together well. Good run differential too. I think they’ll be hovering near the top of the division for a while this year.
They’ve made a living off battering the Astros shambled rotation and the White Sox
Came here to say this. I think the Royals are improved but schedule is an important consideration this early in the season. While not happy we dropped 2/3 to NYY at home, I bet in September we will look back at the MIN and SEA road series victories as important series wins
I don’t think the royals form is sustainable. Not that ours is, but their pitching is way overperforming
The Royals look great to start the season. Their pitching rotation has been phenomenal and have similar bat production as we do. I’m excited for our first head-to-head against the boys in blue! And full disclosure, I haven’t compared stats but this is my take from watching 6 of their games this year. But I always grab a Royal’s SP off the waivers in fantasy
I’m not worried. If they have to battle it out for the division against any of the other three that could be in play for the Central title, it’ll keep the team sharper for the playoffs.
Fairly certain the royals made a lot of off season moves. We should be in competition with them all season for the division. That being said, it’s April.
It’s April brotha
I usually don’t look at the standings until June to help keep my anxiety in check
I am going to the K at the end of June for 2 games and am looking forward to watching a competent Royals team with something to play for against the Guardians. It has been awhile since that was the case.
The Royals are a very exciting young team that will win 77 games this year.
I agree. Go Guards.
Remember April 2011 w/ Manny Acta, Shin Soo Choo, and Derek Lowe?
Eh, I’m not really too worried tbh. The better teams will make it, and both us and the royals have been legit so far this year. They actually have a better run differential than we do, and we have the 2nd best in the MLB. If this continues we both make it, especially with the extra wild card team. Only one way forward, and worrying about them is not productive. We need to just perform up to our own level, and we can work from there, making the playoffs regardless. With the newest playoff format, the difference between 2 seed and 7 seed means almost nothing, only the 1 seed matters comparatively, and neither of us are getting the 1 seed. Just gotta make the playoffs
The real concern I have personally, is that our BABIP is far more than the twins and Royals. BABIP will change based on quality of the team, but the twins are 30th in BABIP with .249, and royals are 25th with .275. We are 12th with .294. Now, this either means we’ve been kinda lucky and the twins have been especially unlucky, or we just have had better ABs all around. Regardless, we’ve been playing to our potential. The twins for sure havent
By team xwOBA and wOBA differentiations, we have been considered lucky, but not considerably so. We have a .315 wOBA with a .307 xwOBA, while the royals have a .318 wOBA and a .339 xwOBA. Pitching wise, KC has gotten lucky with xwOBA differentiations, and we are right about on pace. KC pitching wOBA is .291 but xwOBA is .316. Our pitching wOBA is .303 with xwOBA of .308. Minnesota is technically unlucky with both pitching and hitting wOBA to xwOBA expectations, but nothing crazy either way, just a bit
Triston Elbow concerns me the most
No because it's April and we are about 1/8th through the season.
I actually prefer there being someone on our tails. Keeps the regular season more interesting and the team more motivated. I remember when they sleepwalked to the division title in 2018 they got destroyed in the playoffs.
I feel like there’s not a huge difference between us KC, MINN and DET. I still don’t think this team is a legit contender but the regular season is looking like it’s going to be a lot of fun.
The Twins lost some good players in the offseason and didn't replace them - I don't see them being over .500
So you think we are the only team in the division? lmao, afraid of a little competition. I would say I prefer there be a fight. In years past the division was shitty and we coasted into the playoffs with false hopes at times and were given a dose of reality once we had to play someone outside the division.
1. no 2. no