Puckett’s Pond’s 2012 Predictions

The results are in. It’s true that there are 157 games left to be played, but Puckett’s Pond knows how the AL Central standings will end up.

Just before the season began, our five writers took turns publishing their predictions. Click the links to read the individual posts by Eric Pleiss, Paul Pleiss, Shawn Berg, Dallin Burgener, and Nate Gilmore.

Here’s how the final standings look if we average all five predictions together:

1. Detroit Tigers, 93-69

2. Minnesota Twins, 81-81

3. Kansas City Royals, 81-81

4. Cleveland Indians, 80-82

5. Chicago White Sox, 73-89

One thing we all agreed upon is that the Tigers will win the Central. But by how much was open to debate. Eric (88 wins) and Nate (90) didn’t buy into the Tiger hype caused by their acquisition of Prince Fielder, but both still think the Tigers have what it takes to win this mediocre division. On the other hand, Dallin picked them to win 98 games, which would certainly place them among MLB’s elite.

There was also some general agreement that the White Sox were the worst in the division. Dallin picked them to tie for last place with the Indians, but everyone else had Chicago in sole possession of last place. Nate was the least generous to the White Sox, picking them to win just 65.

As for the Royals, Indians, and Twins, all of us seem to agree that these teams will hover around .500. Dallin had the Royals winning 84 games and the Indians winning just 73; everyone else had all three teams winning between 77 and 83.

Thus, the experts agree that the Twins are going to be an average team this year. They won’t be MLB’s whipping boys, the way the national press seems to think. But they don’t look like contenders either.