2025 MLB Previews Part II: The Chaotic Centrals

What will happen in the MLB Central divisions this season?

Let’s dive in!

AL Central

1. Detroit Tigers
2. Kansas City Royals
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Cleveland Guardians
5. Chicago White Sox

Detroit Tigers

• 2024 Record: 86-76
• Notable Additions: Jack Flaherty, Gleyber Torres, Alex Cobb, Tommy Kahnle, John Brebbia
• Notable Subtractions: Alex Faedo
• Relative Expectations: Win a muddy division and be considered top-tier in the AL
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Jackson Jobe

The Tigers may be the most difficult to project team heading into the year because they were two entirely different teams pre and post-trade deadline; in August they were 56-63 and sold off Jack Flaherty and other pieces to contend for next year, then suddenly they went 20-8, made the postseason, and slayed the Houston Astros postseason empire in what was referred to as Cy Young Winner and just “pitching magic.”

What does that mean for this team heading into 2025? They struck out on Bregman in free agency. Still, with Flaherty wanting to come back to a team that had enough winning energy that second half and banking on the talent of one of the youngest rosters in baseball to take a leap, it’s more likely we’ll get the second half Motor City Kitties than the first (as long as they don’t play Javier Baez as an every day player).

They’ve been looking for THE guy in the lineup ever since the glory days of Miggy, and former top-5 pick Riley Greene is finally going to be healthy for a full year and is everyone’s dark horse AL MVP Candidate, now entering his prime and only making contact more and missing less as last season went on. Adding Gleyber will give him some extra support in the lineup, Kerry Carpenter will look to not just be a platoon bat if he can hit from the other side, and Colt Keith is just 23 and ready to take off after they extended him from his minor league surge before last year.

Flaherty will be reunited with Skubal in the rotation, and Jackson Jobe, the top prospect they called up specifically for that magical run, is set to take that Big Three rotation over the top.

In a muddy and up-for-grabs AL Central, no, they didn’t land Bregman, but this young team made an offer and has the desire to win and make moves to contend. That identity is going to roll over with leaps and bounds in 2025.

Kansas City Royals

• 2024 Record: 86-76
• Notable Additions: Jonathan India, Carlos Estevez, Joey Wiemer
• Notable Subtractions: Paul DeJong, Robbie Grossman, Yuli Gurriel, Will Smith
• Relative Expectations: Repeat last year and improve on offense around Bobby Witt Jr.
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Vinnie Pasquantino

We questioned why the Royals were making moves as buyers heading into last season. With the belief in Bobby Witt Jr. transcending into maybe THE first player that you would want to build a team around for the next decade, the run to the postseason and Wild Card series win with some magic showed us why.

They couldn’t have had a better performance from their pitching staff that they relatively took a flier on- Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo improbably both finished top 4 in Cy Young voting, and Singer and Wacha both were improbable success stories. Their bullpen performance in the postseason, with Lucas Erceg breaking out next to Kris Bubic, solidified them as a pitching factory at Kauffman. Quite frankly, they just did what every other AL Central team has had happen to them, which was they got Yankee’d.

PHOTO: Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images

Witt solidified who he is after his first two seasons as the man: he was an MVP player that will only get better and is already the franchise cornerstone at just 24 and putting up a 9.4 WAR year. The question will be whether or not they do enough to build around him going forward; the starting pitching may not be able to keep up that overperformance, so the addition of Estevez solidified their clutch factory, but this is a team that drew very few walks and frankly just stole a lot of bases and hit triples around Witt. Big Salvy Perez is the Derrick Henry of baseball. You never want to be the one to predict his fall off and be wrong, but he can’t do it forever, and Witt needs his reliable secondary man in the lineup. The answer could be Vinnie Pasquantin, AKA the PASQUATCH, who makes a ton of contact and has pop while doing so as a mature hitter and could be a lovable superstar as long as he’s on the field. There’s just a lot that went right for the Royals last year, and with a relatively quiet offseason, we’re in wait-and-see mode.

Minnesota Twins

• 2024 Record: 82-80
• Notable Additions: Harrison Bader, Ty France
• Notable Subtractions: Kyle Farmer, Max Kepler, Carlos Santana, Caleb Thielbar, Anthony DeSclafani
• Relative Expectations: Be what the non-injured Twins should’ve been last year and win the division
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Royce Lewis

The Minnesota Twins, the team that finished FOURTH in a division with three playoff teams in it last year, are the odds-on favorite to win the division this year despite only adding Harrison Bader and Ty France. That’s how much talent has been lost on this roster due to injury.

We don’t want to get fooled and burned by the Twins’ on-paper talent once again; Carlos Carlos Correa is a Gold-Glove World Series winner that happens to be playing with bionic knees. Byron Buxton is the most comparable electrifying athlete, having played over 100 games just once since 2017. Royce Lewis was the crown jewel #1 overall pick that hit 5 grand slams in the fewest games ever that also has never played 100 games. That core trio is going to go down as a missed era at the peak of their powers.

There are a lot of other young pieces to like around the Twins that you can talk yourself into, however. They could easily be the team with the most pop in their lineup, and the starting rotation depth if Simeon Woods Richardson takes a leap as the 5 starter is phenomenal; Jax and Jhoan Duran may be the most electrifying ending to a bullpen in baseball, too.

It’s just a mystery box team, pending health, that is a scorpion waiting to sting us again.

Cleveland Guardians

• 2024 Record: 92-69
• Notable Additions: Carlos Santana, Paul Sewald, Luis Ortiz, Jakob Junis, Slade Cecconi, John Means
• Notable Subtractions: Matt Boyd, Alex Cobb, Andres Gimenez, Nick Sandlin, Eli Morgan, Josh Naylor, Myles Straw
• Relative Expectations: Show the fans you can still be the division-winning Guardians with less money around J-Ram
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Ben Lively

The Cleveland Guardians continuously subtract to the detriment of their own fans and build the team in unfathomable ways to prove us wrong and make the postseason.

It just might be too much to overcome this year with how much newness is in to bank on the youth. Cleveland spent a TON of revenue in relying upon a bullpen that was unstoppable for the most innings in baseball, with Emmanuel Clase being the most unhittable pitcher in baseball until he had a historic meltdown against the Yankees that was a crushing blow. Losing Andres Gimenez as one of the best infield defenders and Josh Naylor, the home-run hitting heart of the team, is a lot of faith in Steven Kwan getting on base and staying as healthy as he can and Lane Thomas being more of postseason Lane Thomas for what they gave up for him at the deadline.

Tanner Bibee ultimately controls the season as a bona fide ace to take the heat off of the bullpen; he has phenomenal stuff and command on the mound and is one of the most exciting starters in the game, but we’re waiting for the leap to ace status.

The Guardians may have taken a step back, but we do know two things: Jhonkensy Noel’s Big Christmas nickname is the best in baseball.

Chicago White Sox

• 2024 Record: 41-21
• Notable Additions: Martin Perez, Austin Slater, Mike Tauchman, Bryse Wilson, Josh Rojas, Michael A. Taylor, Matt Thaiss
• Notable Subtractions: Garrett Crochet, Michael Soroka, Yoan Moncada
• Relative Expectations: …not finish with the worst record of all-time
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Luis Robert Jr. (the trade package that he gets)

The bar is not very high when you’re coming off of the worst season in baseball history, and the Chicago White Sox have already made that known when they already sold off Garrett Crochet to Boston for a haul of a return!

Those young talents may very well project to be great in the forthcoming few years, but the only questions surrounding the team are whether or not Luis Robert Jr. will net them a package deemed what he’s worth as an All-Star and what Rate Field concession like the Campfire S’Mores Shake that they used to promote and distract the fans from the losing will be the social media banner raised of the year. 

NL Central

1. Chicago Cubs
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Pittsburgh Pirates
5. St. Louis Cardinals

Chicago Cubs

• 2024 Record: 83-79
• Notable Additions: Kyle Tucker, Matthew Boyd, Ryan Pressly, Eli Morgan, Carson Kelly, Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Brasier, Colin Rea, Jon Berti, Cody Poteet, Vidal Brujan, Justin Turner
• Notable Subtractions: Cody Bellinger, Kyle Hendricks, Mike Tauchman, Jorge Lopez, Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski
• Relative Expectations: Win the division and make noise in the postseason
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Pete Crow-Armstrong

PHOTO: Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images

Since the 2016 World Series ring was claimed, and we thought they had built a potential dynasty with their core, we’ve been waiting for the Cubs and the Ricketts family to operate like the big market, competent and winning franchise that they can be when managing their assets the right way. We thought that making Craig Counsell the highest-paid manager in baseball history away from the Brewers last year was the first step in going back to being a serious organization, and the Cubs had an underwhelming season with an offense that genuinely felt like hard work to get anything going.

They went back to making big moves this offseason, and with Counsell having a year under his belt with the organization and more toys to play with, the Cubs may be finally poised to make that next step we’ve been waiting for. They made the gamble by trading away assets for Kyle Tucker in a Juan Soto with the Yankees one-and-we’ll-see situation, but they’ve at least gone all-in on him for this year. Last year was a season of streaks for the Cubbies before it was too late, and Tucker is one of the most stable soon-to-be-paid superstars in baseball who will make life easier for the rest of their bats. Losing Bellinger hurts from a culture standpoint, but top prospect that we saw last year Pete Crow-Armstrong saw what he could be at the end of the last season going from a defensive-only player to making solid contact, and with his blue hair and energy, he’s poised to be the next big star in Chicago playing like a bat out of hell.

Imanaga will have had one year adjusted to the league in the rotation and one more year to learn (the guy has literally written a book about pitching!) and Counsell will now have some more bullpen pieces to play with in Pressly and Brasier; aside from missing out in the Bregman sweepstakes, it just feels like they addressed every issue that was a weak point for at least this year with a division that could be open with Milwaukee losing some of their big names.

We may finally be able to hear “Go Cubs Go!” in October for the first time in what feels like forever.

Milwaukee Brewers

• 2024 Record: 93-69
• Notable Additions: Nestor Cortes, Grant Anderson
• Notable Subtractions: Willy Adames, Devin Williams, Frankie Montas, Gary Sanchez, Hoby Milner, Joe Ross, Wade Miley, Colin Rea
• Relative Expectations: Win the division again when people keep doubting you
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Brandon Woodruff

Every year, Craig Counsell or not, we tell ourselves that the Brewers have finally taken a step back in the way that they’ve managed their assets in the offseason, and every year they win a minimum of 85 games and prove us wrong (…until they have a tragic collapse in the postseason).

The same applied to last season in that the Brewers were absolute freaks in the NL Central last year, coasting with around a 10 game lead for what felt like the entirety of the season, until just innings away from glory this polar bear playing for the Mets clobbered a home run off of their lights-out closer to send them packing early yet again. Grit and determination over 162 can only take you so far in the romantic yet unforgiving magic of October.

They did it again in that the Brewers are losing some of their core identity: Willy Adames got a payday in the Bay, and Devin Williams was traded to the Yankees before inevitably having to get paid. However, Milwaukee always gets the most out of young and cheap talent with guys we’ve never heard of, and this year, they’re betting on the return of health and that youth to make a leap. Yelich was lost to another season-ending surgery. Woodruff is returning to the rotation after season-ending surgery and was the bona fide #2 behind Corbin Burnes. And, of course, we saw two potential MVPs before our eyes: William Contreras, the athletic specimen that finished fifth as a CATCHER, and Jackson Chourio, the five-tool player that was born AFTER Finding Nemo was released that could finally have his breakout. It’s a star-studded core but a lot of optimism in the midst of the moving parts.

You never want to count out the Brewers as a “win with less” organization, but it could potentially be a learn and grow reset year after the offseason.

Cincinnati Reds

• 2024 Record: 77-85
• Notable Additions: (TITO FRANCONA MANAGER), Brady Singer, Gavin Lux, Taylor Rogers, Austin Hays, Jose Trevino, Scott Barlow
• Notable Subtractions: Jonathan India, Ty France, Justin Wilson, Amed Rosario, Jakob Junis, Joey Wiemer
• Relative Expectations: Build a division-contending team around Elly
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Rhett Lowder

Is there a player with a higher ceiling in a small-market team than Elly De La Cruz in Cincinnati? The Reds have been middling with a young core around what could be the next generation’s “IT” guy from the highlights he brings that extends beyond baseball; those highlights just need to translate to the win column eventually.

That’s what they’re hoping to bring, competence and stability, with the shocking addition of Terry Francona out of retirement; he could have walked to the Hall of Fame with what he did in Boston and in Cleveland, winning with a young small market team trying to build something like this one in Cincy, and he’s back for another go.

Aside from Francona, the biggest moves of the offseason were to part ways with India and load up on the pitching with how difficult an environment Great American Small Park is to keep that ERA down. Rhett Lowder got a few starts last year as their pivotal top starter prospect who will get his first full rookie season after posting a 1.17 ERA, and Hunter Greene has shown us flashes of Cy Young brilliance with a ball that will also leave the park in a hurry. Those question marks to potentially be that top two of the future with Elly, TJ Friedl, and McClain all under 28 and looking to take the leap will be fun to see learn under Tito; the youth movement could hit early and they make an improbable run, but they’ll at least be a blast and competitive to see grow.

Pittsburgh Pirates

• 2024 Record: 76-86
• Notable Additions: Spencer Horwitz, Tommy Pham, Adam Frazier, Caleb Ferguson, Tim Mayza, Emmanuel Valdez, Andrew Heaney
• Notable Subtractions: Aroldis Chapman, Luis Ortiz, Bryan De La Cruz, Connor Joe, Michael A. Taylor, and Marco Gonzales
• Relative Expectations: Build an offense around Paul Skenes and not cry poor
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Jared Jones

The Pittsburgh Pirates, the PITTSBURGH PIRATES, the team with a Bob Nutting 26-man payroll of a combined salary less than what Shohei Ohtani would make in a single season before deferrals, may have the most popular and well-known baseball player off the field in America in reigning ace and rookie of the year, Paul Skenes. What we said to them that was left to do after seeing his must-see promise and potential was to go out and actually capitalize on that rookie contract and promise by adding offensive bats and go take the NL Central rather than being the same old Pirates.

With offseason acquisitions of Spencer Horwitz, bringing back legacy Andrew McCutchen, Tommy Pham before he gets traded, and reclamation Adam Frazier, it’s fair to have your doubts! 

The team was 23rd in offense last season and didn’t address what could be the 1-2 punch of the future in Skenes and Jared Jones, another top prospect, coming off of an injury. No, they even reportedly SHOPPED Jones this offseason! Bryan Reynolds is still the captain, and many are still hoping for O’Neill Cruz to take the Elly leap, but it’s fair to be angry as a Bucs fan and have doubts.

We’ll at least make Skenes appointment television every start.

St. Louis Cardinals

• 2024 Record: 83-79
• Notable Additions: NONE! LITERALLY NONE!
• Notable Subtractions: Matt Carpenter, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Paul Goldschmidt, Andrew Kittredge
• Relative Expectations: Get the “best fans in baseball” back in love with the franchise and look young and competitive
• Wild Card Player to Watch: Ivan Herrera
• Let’s play a game called “Name your favorite St. Louis Cardinals offseason acquisition!”

You can’t. They literally did nothing aside from threatening to trade their cornerstone player and lose their former MVP.

There’s growing rage and apathy in St. Louis because for the past two seasons post-Pujols, they’ve done nothing but experience what many other fan bases have had: suffering. Willson Contreras was their marquee acquisition at catcher years back and continues to be one of the best offensive sluggers in baseball, but he was CRUCIFIED by fans because he wasn’t a Yadier Molina behind the plate. This year, he’ll at least get to play first and DH and focus on hitting, so the offense may take a leap, and that has a lot to do with their belief in the youth movement. They’ll have Masyn Wynn in the infield, Jordan Walker as the bat with pop when they aren’t mismanaging him going up and down in the minors, and either prospect Ivan Herrera or 26-year-old Pedro Pages behind the plate to take over for Contreras.

The Cardinals have been the face of winning for so long that amidst disaster they just haven’t had the desire to fully lean into the youth movement or quite frankly show a willingness to build around the players they have in their primes entirely like Arenado or Sonny Gray coming off of a fantastic great first season with the team. The Oly Marmol tenure has been nothing but uninspiring so far, so this season needs to be a wake-up call to inspire the hardcore St. Louis baseball town fans to have a reason to continue to show up to their beautiful park. If a last-place finish is it, maybe something will get accomplished to figure out who needs to stay and who can be shown the door.

PHOTO: Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images