Houston, Does the Central Have a Problem?

You made me laugh.  Of course we have a problem.  Winning 90 in a division in which teams 2 - 5 are all below 500 is not a monumental feat.  When the Rays win 90 in the American East that is a feat.  

There is something that impacts the central teams when they get into the post season and maybe it is the fact that they are not hardened by the competition during the season.   

We were 13 - 20 versus the East, 37 - 39 in our own division, and 13 - 20 versus the West.  And 10 - 10 interleague.  

We often fool ourselves and think we are better than our record - even this year that might be true.

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

maybe it is the fact that they are not hardened by the competition during the season.

That could be, but in this particular case, the Astros seem to have a pretty well-oiled organizational machine for prepping for playoff matchups. The White Sox are hitting the Astros pitching (18 hits in two games ain't bad), but ALL have been singles. That, and the Astros solid situational hitting seems like the result of some careful scouting.

Of course, the Astros have been known to look for other kinds of angles for winning, too.

But overall, I think you're right. It pains me to say it, but I would prefer to see the Twins play the Yankees  and Rays more often in the regular season, just to see how it might elevate their play over time.

You can argue that the Sox are a good team without needing to prop up the AL Central. It was the ONLY division in baseball to have every team other than the winner finish under .500. The Central is hands down the least competitive division in the AL, and very likely in all of baseball. The Twins lost 89 games, KC 88, and Detroit 85; drawing the line at 90 seems a little too arbitrary.  

52 minutes ago, Ted Schwerzler said:

The AL Central may not have a juggernaut, but it's also a division where no one lost 90 games. 

and the difference between 89 losses and 90 losses  means????  Bad is bad, if they played against better teams they could have achieved the magical 90.  ?

The White Sox are being exposed in this series.  Breaking it down to how they did vs playoff teams (13-19):

HOU 2-5

BOS 4-3

Mil 1-2

NYY 1-5

STL 2-1

TB 3-3

They beat up on just 5 teams (20-8):

BAL 7-0

MIN 13-6

CHI (N) 5-1

TEX 5-1

DET 12-7

They were on 39-34 in the 2nd half. 18-24 in one run games. Jusr 16-13 in SEP/OCT. 

They were an average team that beat up on a few bad teams. They coasted down the stretch. Had there been another team challenging them in the division they may not have been able to hlpd them off.

33 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

If the Twins has pulled their weight and won 90+ games, the Central would have looked like several other divisions this season.

CLE, DET, or KC could have been that team as well. As I said in my post above CHI cosated because they had no competition.

It seems as if every playoff team has an opponent or two they dominate. For example, 

Tampa Bay went 18-1 vs Baltimore

Milwaukee went 15-4 vs the Cubs and 14-5 vs Pittsburgh

Houston went 14-5 vs Texas

The Dodgers went 16-3 vs Arizona and the Giants went 17-2 vs the Diamondbacks. 

no team in the division lost 90 games because when 4 of the 5 teams are all on the same level of suck, they play pretty competitive baseball against each other.

I am not a White Sox fan (that's putting it mildly), but they are not a bad team. I think they are just inexperienced in playoff baseball. Unfortunately that's probably why the Twins will have to be a lot better than they are to reclaim the Division Title.

On 10/9/2021 at 9:07 AM, mikelink45 said:

There is something that impacts the central teams when they get into the post season and maybe it is the fact that they are not hardened by the competition during the season.   

I agree 100 percent. The White Sox aren’t any different from the Twins when it comes to results the last few seasons. They play really well vs the bad teams and are mediocre against teams that are actually good. 
 

I was shocked when they actually won one last night. I’m not sure it happens again. There really needs to be a more balanced schedule so the Twins and other ALC teams can see if they are truly for real each year or just pretending. 

I would estimate that if the AL was just one big division, the White Sox would have finished 8th. They would have a hard time finishing above .500. 

Maybe they surprise and finish in 6th place. I really can't place them higher than that. 

They will be better the next couple years though. Every young team needs these seasons as they climb the ladder.