The American League Central is one of six divisions in Major League Baseball. This division was formed in the realignment of 1994, and its teams are all located in the Midwestern United States. The Central is currently the only division in the Major Leagues in which all of its members have won a World Series title, as well as being the only division in the Big Four sports leagues to have had each member win a championship. In fact, each team has captured at least two World Series championships.
Division membership
Current members
- Chicago White Sox â€" Founding member; formerly of the AL West
- Cleveland Indians â€" Founding member; formerly of the AL East
- Detroit Tigers â€" Joined in 1998; formerly of the AL East
- Kansas City Royals â€" Founding member; formerly of the AL West
- Minnesota Twins â€" Founding member; formerly of the AL West
Former member
- Milwaukee Brewers â€" Founding member, moved into the NL Central in 1998
Membership timeline
Place cursor over year for division champ or World Series team.
- A The Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, and Minnesota Twins came from the AL West, and the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers from the AL East.
- B Due to expansion in 1998 and the placement of the new Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the AL East, the Tigers moved to the Central. To give each league an even number of teams, the Brewers moved to the NL Central.
Champions by year
The Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals are the only teams from the AL Central division to have won the World Series since the league realignment in 1994.
- Team names link to the season in which each team played
* Due to the 1994 Major League Baseball strike starting August 12, no official winner became victorious. The Chicago White Sox were leading at the time that the strike began.
** In 2008, the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox finished the season with the identical records of 88â€"74. The White Sox won the one-game playoff 1â€"0.
# In 2009, the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers finished the season with identical records of 86â€"76. The Twins won the one-game playoff 6â€"5 in 12 innings.
Wild-card winners produced
In 1994, the Cleveland Indians were sitting atop the wild-card standings and would have qualified for the postseason as the AL's first wild card but on August 12 of that year, the season came to an early end due to a players strike, cancelling the remainder of the regular season and postseason. The 2006 Detroit Tigers were the first team from the Central to qualify as the wild card. MLB revamped the postseason starting in 2012, creating a new single-game playoff where two wildcards competed against each other while the division winners each received a bye. The winner of the American League wild card game moves on to face the top-seeded team of the AL in the American League Division Series. In 2013, the Indians became the first team from the AL Central to qualify as a wild card under the new postseason format. In 2014, the Kansas City Royals ended a 29-year postseason drought returning to the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 1985.
Division Championships Won by Team
Current division members in bold
See also
- American League East
- American League West
- National League East
- National League Central
- National League West
References
- MLB final standings by year
