AL Central

So far for Minnesota Twins fans, the 2011 season seems to be a cross between April Fools Day and Groundhog's Day—I'm referring to the Bill Murray movie where he relives the same day over and over.

Make no mistake, the Chicago White Sox can easily run away from this division. However, if they’re going to put down the upstart Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians, they must find someone who can close out the game for them. They tried out All-Star setup man Matt Thornton, and it didn't work out so well.

During the 2010 season, the Cleveland Indians defense was one of the worst in the major leagues.

A combination of injuries and poor play were the main reasons for the terrible infield defense. Add a poor defense to the fact that the majority of the Tribe rotation is made up of ground ball pitchers and you have a recipe for disaster.

Once the Indians' front office traded third baseman Jhonny Peralta, the position became a gaping hole that none of the Indian's options were able to fill successfully.

How many top ten singles did Natalie Imbruglia produce? How many movies has Brett Favre scored a cameo in? How many songs by The Fugees can you sing by heart? If you haven't found the commonality in these questions just yet, this might make it a bit easier for you: how many pitches does Matt Thornton have?

Sparky Anderson was one of the managerial greats in baseball. In his storied career as a major league baseball manager, Sparky won two World Series with the Cincinnati Reds during the "Big Red Machine" era and won a third World Series with the Detroit Tigers.

If you watch Cleveland Indians baseball or "you are in the Tribe," then you know the Indians are on a hot start in 2011.

After winning eight straight, including sweeps of the Red Sox and Mariners, the Indians are looking like they want to take charge of an AL Central that is up for grabs.

The Tribe is back. The Cleveland Indians are showing a lot of potential in this 2011 season. Yes, the season is young as we are only nine games in, but what can we take from these games? The seven game wining streak will eventually come to an end, but the aptitude will continue throughout the season. The Indians are stacked with talent and will continue to blend well as a team.

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Over the past nine years, the Minnesota Twins have dominated the American League Central. They have won six division titles in that span (seven if you count their tie for first in 2008), since Ron Gardenhire was named manager. Although they have not necessarily had the most talent, they play hard—and they scrap for every win possible.

Wake up Cleveland! There is a contender in town and I'm not talking about the Lake Erie Monsters, either!

After dropping their first two games to the Chicago White Sox, the Indians have been on fire, rattling off seven wins in a row—taking a broom to both the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners. Sure, this could be just a fluke, right? Both the Red Sox and Mariners have struggled early. Plus the Tribe are supposed to finish in the American League cellar, according to almost every sports writer in America.

Last week: 2-4
This week: TEX (April 11-13); at OAK (April 14-17)

So, What Happened?

Buzz saw, meet the Tigers; Tigers, meet the buzz saw.