When you ask most fans what the toughest division in baseball is, most will say the AL East or NL West, and this has been the case for a few years now due to the consistent dominance of the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, and other consistently good teams that make it tough year in and year out.
However, this year it’s a different division that has a legitimate claim for being the toughest in the league, and a recent stat shows just how shocking the performance has been.
FOX Sports: MLB shared that the AL Central has as many teams above .500 as the entire National League, with the 40-20 Cleveland Guardians, 36-26 Kansas City Royals, 33-27 Minnesota Twins, and 31-30 Detroit Tigers all off to surprisingly good starts.
The AL Central has as many teams above .500 as the entire National League 🔥👀 pic.twitter.com/ULpEk06Oyn
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 5, 2024
Most wouldn’t have expected any of those teams to be as good as they are, but the one surprising thing in the division is how awful the Chicago White Sox have been at 15-46.
In the NL, only the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Milwaukee Brewers are above .500, and none of the other teams are showing much promise at all.
The Guardians are one of three teams in baseball with 40 wins, and the Royals have been perhaps the most surprising team in the league so far.
Who could have predicted the Central being so elite?
Maybe the White Sox aren’t really as bad as it seems, they just so happen to play in a division that punishes them on a nightly basis.
