This marks the 20th year that I've rooted for the White Sox. The first few years were pretty bad (217-267) and included a last place finish in 1989. I like to think that rooting for a team that's twenty games out builds character. Anyway, their fortunes turned around in 1990. They've only finished below .500 four times in the last seventeen years and finished no worse than third. And of course the 2005 season went fairly well.
This year features four AL Central teams that are all of similar (high) quality. The difference between the Indians, Tigers, Twins and White Sox is (probably) not that much. Injuries and other unknowns like rookie maturity will decide the whole shebang. Seriously, you could randomly select the four in any order and have an equal shot at getting it right.
The key for the Sox is the starting pitching. It went south during the second half of last year and so did the team. The bullpen should be a strength of the team again and the offense should still be one of the top ones in the AL. If the starters bomb, the team will fail. If they are consistently good the team will be too. If they repeat their 2005 performances, they'll win the division.
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