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Kansas City Royals After a surprising start, Kansas City sits atop the AL Central. Danny Duffy is having a career year as he has only allowed one earned run in 23 innings (0.39 ERA) with a 1.04 WHIP. Michael Taylor, a free agent signing, has the team’s highest WAR among position players (1.1 WAR). Another off-season pick-up, Carlos Santana continues to be an on-base machine as his OPS is nearly 30 points higher than his career mark. While this start is fun for Royals fans, it seems unlikely for this team to keep up their current pace of 162 games. Result: Pretender Chicago White Sox Chicago is sitting right where many expected they would be in the thick of the division race. Like the Royals, there are some surprising players leading the way. Yermin Mercedes (1.1 WAR) is leading baseball in batting average and Carlos Rodon (0.9 WAR) shocked the baseball world with a no-hitter. Chicago isn’t going away, especially if their younger players find ways to improve. Result: Contender Cleveland Baseball Team Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco, and Carlos Santana were all key loses for Cleveland this winter, but this club still has some of the best players in the division. Shane Bieber, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, has picked up right where he left off as he has been striking out over 14 batters per nine innings. Jose Ramirez is a perennial MVP candidate that will be relied on to carry even more of the offensive load. Cleveland’s pitching depth is strong enough to keep them in the race, especially if other teams continue to struggle. Result: Contender Minnesota Twins Despite the recent slide, the Twins are still getting the second-best odds to win the Central. That could owe as much to the expectation that Kansas City won't be able to keep up their hot start as to the Twins eventually figuring things out. Minnesota has plenty of problems to solve, but not everything has been negative so far. Byron Buxton looks like an early MVP contender and Nelson Cruz remains ageless. The Twins are struggling, and they need to figure things out before the other contenders are out of reach. Result: Contender Detroit Tigers Detroit was never supposed to be in the running, and they are living up to those expectations. AJ Hinch, the former Astros manager, is at the helm and he is charged with turning around a rebuilding team. The Tigers haven’t had a winning percentage over .500 since 2016 and that trend doesn’t look to end this year. Result: Pretender Who do you think are the contenders and pretenders in the AL Central? Leave a COMMENT and join the discussion. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

1. How much can A.J. Hinch help the Tigers? Ron Gardenhire is no longer at the helm in the Motor City with former Astros manager A.J. Hinch taking over a young roster. Hinch was suspended for all of 2020 as part of the fallout related to the Astros cheating scandal. The Tigers are ready to give him a second chance, especially with an organization close to making the turn back to being relevant. Detroit’s farm system that includes some of the game’s top prospects and Hinch will be there to pull all the strings. Hinch will bring a new focus to the Tigers and he might help to change the organization’s direction. He was at the helm of the Astros as they became a juggernaut in the American League. In five seasons, he never had a losing record and the club won over 100 games in three different seasons. Hinch’s data driven approach might help turn around a Tigers team that has averaged over 100 losses in each of the last three full seasons. 2. Will the White Sox suffer a sophomore slump? Chicago got a lot of national love this winter with some of their offseason moves and a young core that fought the Twins for the AL Central last year. However, young rosters are tough to predict because there can be volatility with players as they adjust to playing at baseball’s highest level. Baseball Prospectus uses PECOTA to predict every team’s final record and they have the White Sox finishing eight wins behind Minnesota and two games behind Cleveland. Luis Robert was sensational in the outfield, but there were some slumps at the plate. How will he adjust to a full season of work? Yoan Moncada is a former top prospect and he is still trying to put it all together at the big-league level. More veteran players like Jose Abreu and Yasmani Grandal should help to stabilize the offense. Lance Lynn joins Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel at the top of the Sox rotation. Even if they slump, it’s looking like the White Sox will challenge the Twins for the Central’s top spot. 3. How far will Cleveland fall? It’s amazing to consider the pitchers that Cleveland has dealt away over the last two seasons. Gone are names like Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevenger, and Carlos Carrasco. It helps to have the reigning AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber and other young arms set to take on more important roles on the pitching staff. PECOTA has Cleveland finishing second in the AL Central, so maybe the team won’t fall too far. Cleveland also dealt away one of baseball’s superstars, Francisco Lindor, to the Mets. As a team that already had offensive issues, trading away a player of Lindor’s caliber certainly will have long-term ramifications. Jose Ramirez will be asked to carry more of the offensive load and new additions like Eddie Rosario and Ahmed Rosario will be looked to fill some of Lindor’s void. 4. How good can Kansas City really be? Kansas City had a sneaky good off-season by adding players like Andrew Benintendi, Carlos Santana, Michael Taylor, and Mike Minor. Players like Jorge Soler and Whit Merrifield each bring their own unique skillset that can help bolster Kansas City’s line-up. Even with these players, PECOTA pegs the Royals for a 71-90 finish, which is closer to the Tigers than to the White Sox. Also, they have less than a 1.0% chance of winning the division. One of Kansas City’s strengths might be their bullpen with players like Greg Holland, Jesse Hahn, Kyle Zimmer, Scott Barlow, and Josh Staumont. Former Twin Ervin Santana has a shot to get some innings in their rotation, but he certainly isn’t a different maker at this point in his career. Their farm system has some top tier talent, but they are still rebuilding after dealing away prospects to make back-to-back World Series runs. 5. Who will win the AL Central? Minnesota is the back-to-back AL Central champions, but other teams are trying to impede on their run for a three-peat. Kansas City and Detroit don’t seem to have the firepower necessary to sustain winning over a full season. This leaves Minnesota, Chicago, and Cleveland vying for the top spot. Some betting lines have the White Sox as favorites, while others have Minnesota and Chicago in a near dead heat. The division still belongs to the Twins especially if the White Sox suffer any kind of slump in 2021. Cleveland’s pitching might be strong enough to keep them in the conversation, but one or two key injuries and they won’t have the depth to stay in the race. How would you answer these questions? Leave a COMMENT and join the discussion. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

Paul Molitor received 18 of the 30 first-place votes for the Manager of the Year award including that of Twin Cities media member Pat Borzi. Star Tribune's Phil Miller voted for Terry Francona, who received 11 first-place votes. Molitor becomes the Twins third AL Manager of the Year, joining Ron Gardenhire in 2010 and Tom Kelly in 1991. Molitor also becomes just the second Hall of Fame player to win Manager of the Year. Molitor was re-signed to a three-year contract extension that could keep him at the helm of the Twins through the 2020 season.

Terry Francona, Cleveland Indians AL Central Champions (102-60 Record) Resume: The defending AL Champs had high hopes for 2017. Many considered them the favorites to repeat at the top of the league. Francona had to navigate his team through a potential World Series “hangover.” A slow start at the beginning of the year was quickly forgotten as the Indians compiled a record 22-game winning streak. Cleveland won the AL Central by 17 games. AJ Hinch, Houston Astros AL West Champions (101-61 Record) Resume: Everyone knows what the Astros were able to do in the postseason but only the regular season figures into MLB’s award season. Houston has had high expectations the last couple of seasons, but Hinch was able to push all the right buttons as his club crossed the 100-win mark. He was able to use the right mix of young talent and veteran players to be a dominant regular season squad that went on to quite the postseason run. Houston won the AL West by 21 games. Paul Molitor, Minnesota Twins AL Wild Card (85-77 Record) Resume: While the Indians and the Astros were expected to be strong clubs, no one expected Minnesota to make the playoffs. On the heels of the worst season in franchise history, Molitor was able to bring playoff baseball back to Minnesota (even if it was only for one game). Young players like Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton were able to take huge strides under Molitor’s guidance. Sometimes the voters can give the Manager of the Year to the team that improved the most and Minnesota definitely fits into this category. Who do you think will take home the award? Leave a COMMENT and join the discussion.