Cleveland Indians: Monitoring the only other contender in the AL Central

The Cleveland Indians remain favorites to repeat as AL Central champions, but the Minnesota Twins will serve as some legitimate competition in 2018.

Even with all the stress of losing some talented pieces this offseason, Cleveland Indians fans were able to rest easy knowing the team remained overwhelming favorites to win the American League Central division for the third straight season.

The Tigers, White Sox and Royals are all in the midst of rebuilds of varying degrees, but the same isn’t true for the Minnesota Twins. And that is something to remain aware of in 2018.

The Twins have already added Logan Morrison, Lance Lynn, Jake Odorizzi, Addison Reed and Fernando Rodney to a team that made it to the AL Wild Card Game in 2017. Brian Dozier will look to build off his 34 home runs last season, while Byron Buxton‘s star will only continue to rise in what will only be his second full season in the majors.

The Twins are a legitimate contender and will serve as some genuine competition for the Indians in 2018.

The long haul of the regular season makes it difficult to get too up or down over the course of the summer. The Indians could easily trail the Twins in the division in July, or could have a massive lead and be firmly on the march toward October. But so much can change in the matter of a month or even a few weeks, so the key is simply consistency.

It is important to keep in mind just how much of a rollercoaster ride the regular season can be. Fans cannot declare doom in April if the Indians get off to a slow start. I already heard people declaring Edwin Encarnacion to be a bust before May in 2017, although I know sometimes people just complain for the sake of hearing their own voice.

Having some actual competition in the division should serve as a good thing for the Indians. That means 19 games against a playoff contender in addition to the games against other contenders outside of the division.

The MLB postseason is a bit more of a toss-up than any other sport, but having an equal counterpart in the division still helps prepare the team for meaningful, do-or-die baseball.

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Games against the Twins won’t have a playoff feel to them early in 2018, but expect the games to be managed a bit more intensely by Terry Francona as the season goes on. One or two losses because of dumb mistakes could mean the difference between winning the division and fighting for a wild card spot.