MLB has some really strong divisions, like the NL West, the NL East, and the AL East, but there are others in which even the top teams are barely over .500.
This is the case of the AL Central: the Cleveland Guardians and the Minnesota Twins are good, but not great; while the preseason favorites and current holders of the unofficial “most disappointing team in 2022,” the Chicago White Sox, are 63-65.
Even the White Sox, just five games behind the 67-59 Guardians, have a chance to make the postseason.
The three organizations are inconsistent, particularly the Twins and the White Sox, and as a result, the AL Central playoffs odds have changed a lot even in the last few days.
These three teams were virtually tied on August 17. pic.twitter.com/cDgu4XbDTj
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 29, 2022
The Guardians Are Looking Like The Favorites
On August 17, which is just 12 days ago, the three squads had about the same odds to make it into October.
Now, the Guardians have soared despite losing their most recent game; and the White Sox have collapsed to the point in which their odds to make the postseason are a poor 13.5 percent.
Chicago has lost four games in a row, in the worst moment of the season.
The Twins had collapsed shortly after that August 17 threshold, but after winning their last three, they are very much on the race at two games behind the Guardians.
If the White Sox remember how to win games, they could re-enter the race given that there is still more than a month left to play, but the Guardians and the Twins are looking like the favorites to go down to the wire.
Regardless of their presence (or absence) in the playoffs, it has been a wildly disappointing season in Chicago.
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