The AL Central made a statement this season with three teams in the playoffs, but Kansas CIty and Detroit face a tough road as they look to advance in the wild card round
The resurgent American League Central Division made a statement this season. Now it is poised for another.
Detroit and Kansas City will join Central division winner Cleveland to give the division three of the six teams still standing as the wild card round that begins today. (The Guardians have a first-round bye.)
It is a division first and a rebuttal to recent history. The Central had not had even two postseason qualifiers in a full season since 2017, and it had not had two teams finish with a winning record in a full regular season since 2019.
This also is the first season in which three AL Central teams finished a full regular season with a winning record since Kansas City won the World Series in 2015 in the second of the Royals’ back-to-back Series appearances.
Neither Kansas City nor Detroit is favored in its best-of-three series against Baltimore and Houston, respectively, in the latest wild card iteration adopted in 2022 that is heavily weighted toward the best teams in the regular season.
Baltimore and Houston will play all necessary games at home.No. 4 seed Baltimore (91-71) vs No. 5 seed Kansas City (86-76)
Tuesday: Kansas City (Cole Ragans, 11-9, 3.14 ERA) at Baltimore (Corbin Burnes, 15-9, 2.92), ESPN2, 3 pm ET
Wednesday: Kansas City at Baltimore, ESPN, 3:30 pm ET
Thursday: Kansas City at Baltimore, ESPN, 3 pm (if necessary)
Season series: Baltimore won, 4-2. The teams have not played since April 21 after meeting each other twice in the first three weeks.
