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Will KC Royals Win The AL Central in 2016

By Scott Dillon

Will KC Royals retain their crown as division champs? - Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Will KC Royals retain their crown as division champs? - Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 4, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; A fan holds a Chief Wahoo sign during a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Cleveland won 7-2. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; A fan holds a Chief Wahoo sign during a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Cleveland won 7-2. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

Cleveland Indians

The Indians haven’t been as busy this off-season as the Tigers or White Sox, but they’ve made a couple of solid additions in Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis. Both bring a veteran presence to a team with a very young core of players.

Napoli, who underwhelmed in his time in Boston last season, may have gotten on the right track after joining the Rangers late in the season. In 35 games with the Rangers he slashed .295/.396/.513. While those numbers aren’t an indication of how his overall season looked, if he stays on that kind of tear in Cleveland it would add some serious run production to their lineup.

The Indians 2015 wasn’t as bad as it may look on paper after they stumbled out the gate to a 10-19 record. One of the reasons for their early struggles were slow starts by Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley. Yan Gomes missed a significant amount of time due to injury and never rebounded during the season which didn’t help matters any.

A team with a young core that got out to a slow start only to finish the season strong is fairly reminiscent of the 2013 Royals.

Young additions to the team like Francisco Lindor and Giovanni Urshela helped spark the team late as they finished  with a .534 winning percentage in the second half.

A team with a young core that got out to a slow start only to finish the season strong is fairly reminiscent of the 2013 Royals. The team chemistry they built turned into two consecutive World Series appearances and one championship. Could the Indians follow suit?

The Indians strength is their young core of starting pitchers with four guys have at least number two starter potential. Thankfully for the Royals, they crush fastball pitchers. They have a lock-down reliever themselves in Cody Allen. He didn’t get off to the best start but he finished the season with 99 strikeouts across just 69 innings of work.

What may hurt the Indians chances this season is another slow start. Michael Brantley is going to be out until at least mid-May and they’ll need their young position players not to fall into a ‘sophomore slump’. If Yan Gomes can’t return to his 2013 form, they may also be in trouble.

If the Indians get out to a quick start and play a full season like they played the second half of last season , they have the starting pitching to potentially keep the rest of the Central at bay.

Next: Did Royals Fans Ever Think They'd Hate A Brett This Much?

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