With pitchers and catchers reporting in Arizona and Florida, the Major League Baseball season is just around the corner. As all the teams start preparing for the new season, and we get a look at some familiar faces in new places, it’s a great time of year to lock in some preseason futures bets. While there is a clear favorite, the American League Central is a very interesting group of teams that provided plenty of drama down the stretch last year.
For most of the season, the Detroit Tigers were running away with the division, but a late-season swoon allowed the Cleveland Guardians to surge past them in the standings and claim the division title. The Guardians finished 88-74, while the Tigers were 87-75 and still punched their ticket to the postseason as a Wild Card team. The Tigers still had the best run differential in the division by a wide margin (+67), but the Guardians managed to win one more game than Detroit and finished 13 games over .500 despite a -6 run differential.
So, which of these divisional rivals has the edge going into 2026? I’ll break down all five squads before sharing my favorite betting pick to win the AL Central on DraftKings Sportsbook.
AL Central betting preview and prediction
Detroit Tigers (+120)
The Tigers’ late-season collapse resulted in them having to play the Wild-Card series in Cleveland, but they were still able to get the series win, 2-1, advancing to face the Mariners in the League Divisional Series. The Mariners needed 15 innings in the decisive Game 5 to oust the Tigers, whose season ended on the walk-off single by Jorge Polanco.
This offseason, the Tigers were quiet for the most part, but they started and ended the offseason with a bang. At the start of the offseason, the team extended a qualifying offer to Gleyber Torres, which the 2B took. At the end of the offseason, they landed Framber Valdez on a three-year deal, adding him to the top of their rotation alongside Tarik Skubal, who they lost an arbitration hearing to heading into his final season under contract. They also brought back former Tiger Justin Verlander to add ot the rotation and fortified the bullpen by signing Kenley Jansen and re-signing Kyle Finnegan.
The Tigers’ rotation of Skubal, Valdez, Jack Flaherty, Verlander, and Casey Mize is one of the strongest in baseball, and their bullpen is also very solid with Will Vest joining Finnegan and Jansen as the three high-leverage arms coming into the season.
The Tigers’ lineup isn’t quite as clear and could include some platoons with lefties Colt Keith, Kerry Carpenter and Parker Meadows mixing with righties Javier Baez, Jahmai Jones and Matt Vierling. Torres, Riley Green and Spencer Torkelson will likely play almost every day, but manager A.J. Hinch has lots of options to consider on his lineup card each day. The Tigers also have two exciting young prospects knocking on the door, with Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark ready to earn their way into a role out of spring training or looking at potential midseason call-ups.
The Tigers are clearly set up to be the class of the division, and they should be one of the top teams in the American League as they look to capitalize on their last season before Skubal becomes a free agent. If they need to add a bat at the deadline, they’ll be able to push even more chips in if they need to.
Kansas City Royals (+225)
The Royals have the second-shortest odds to win the division, even though they finished third last season at 82-20, five games out of a Wild Card spot. They shuffled a few pieces around, with Mike Yastrzemski, Michael Lorenzen, Adam Frazier, MJ Melendez and Randal Grichuk leaving and Isaac Collins, Matt Strahm, Lane Thomas and Alex Lagne joining the team. I do think Collins was a nice addition, and getting a healthy season from Cole Ragans should solidify the rotation. They also took a flyer on Aaron Sanchez, who could be a nice pickup if he can stay healthy.
The Royals extended Maikel Garcia and will build around the core of Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino, while hoping that top prospect Jac Caglianone is ready to contribute at the MLB level as well.
The Royals are solid overall, but they don’t quite have the horses to keep up with the Tigers and will need some options to emerge in the lower half of their lineup. The offense is a little thin after the stars at the top, and rotation depth could be an issue if Ragans isn’t able to stay healthy again or veterans Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo deal with injuries.
The Royals are an intriguing Wild Card bet at +165 to make the playoffs, but it’s hard to see them chasing down the Tigers with their lack of depth.
Cleveland Guardians (+330)
The reigning division champs are longshots at +330, which could make them good value if they can come close to matching last year’s late-season run. Can they pull off that same magic two years in a row, though?
Despite a negative run differential for the season, they went 19-4 in their last 23 games to surge to the finish line and claim the division. They hosted the Tigers in the Wild Card series and lost the deciding Game 3, 6-3, after a Dillon Dingler homer and a Wenceel Perez single fueled a four-run seventh for Detroit.
The Guardians were back to their role as the small-market, plucky team that could down the stretch, but ultimately, they just didn’t have the star power to make noise in October. While their division title seems a little bit empty, their success over the past few years is hard to argue against. They have won the division in three of the last four years and made the playoffs in seven of the last 10 seasons.
This offseason, though, they didn’t make many changes at all. They lost Thomas and Ben Lively to free agency, but didn’t really make any additions. They extended star Jose Ramirez, which is a huge win from a PR perspective, but they didn’t give Ramirez much support in the rest of the lineup. Even during their great run last year, it was the pitching and defense that had to cover for a below-average offense, and that seems to be the script again this season.
Minnesota Twins (+900)
The Twins sold off just about everything of value at last season’s Trade Deadline, with the team’s partial sale this offseason potentially clearing the way for a larger deal in the near future. Without getting too into the weeds of the ownership issues, the team on the field in 2026 looks like it could be one of the worst in the majors, which it was towards the end of last year after the sell-off. The sale didn’t continue this offseason, with Byron Buxton, Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan all back despite offseason rumors. Behind them, though, the depth is almost non-existent. The “big” offseason acquisitions were Josh Bell, Victor Caratini, Eric Wagaman and Tristan Gray, while they brought back their former closer in Taylor Rogers to help anchor a very shaky bullpen.
The Twins still have some exciting young players and prospects, but they don’t seem to have a clear direction, and the firing of longtime front office head Derek Falvey at the end of January seems to confirm the unrest.
The Twins have players I like for fantasy baseball and potentially exciting midseason arrivals, but there’s no way I see them pushing for a playoff spot this season.
Chicago White Sox (+4000)
These odds are so long that they actually have me intrigued. The White Sox offense actually got pretty interesting towards the end of last season, and they have a strong young core that they’ve picked up in all their recent trades. They continued to add prospects by trading Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets for Luisangel Acuna and Truman Pauley.
While it’s definitely a concerning sign that their GM doesn’t seem to know that Acuna isn’t a switch-hitter, the right-handed hitting speedster is actually an interesting addition to their young core. Getz issued a mea culpa and apologized for the mistake, but it’s not a good look that he was that off in the first place.
Front office gaffes aside, I actually think they’ve had a solid offseason, adding Munetaka Murakami from Japan and Austin Hays from the Reds. They’ve strengthened their rotation with Sean Newcomb and Erick Fedde and added some depth with David Sandlin, who came over as a bonus for taking on Jordan Hicks fro the Red Sox.
The core of Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel, Colson Montgomery, and Murakami, with a little Lenyn Sosa and Acuna mixed in, could be pretty fun. Their bullpen, though, is a little scary, and their rotation depth will be a challenge all season.
They have more pieces, though, than these odds give them credit for, and I’d rather take a flier on them at this price than back the Guardians to pull off the same sorcery at their odds.
Best Bet: 1st DET Tigers / 2nd CHI White Sox (+4500)
At this point in the preseason, we’re looking for value. The Tigers are +120 to win the division and probably one of the safest bets on the board for any division since there’s such a sharp dropoff to the rest of the teams in the AL Central. I like the Royals at. +165 to make the playoffs, as mentioned above, but let’s go further and take the Tigers/White Sox in a straight forecast to finish No. 1 and No. 2. That comes at very juicy odds at 45:1, but the White Sox have a little something brewing on the South Side.
Taking them to beat the Twins and Guardians feels like a safe call, with really only the Royals worrying me in this straight forecast pick. To cushion that, you can add a little White Sox to finish 3rd at +800 to set up a little bit of a ladder and hedge against this long shot call.
