On we go to the AL Central. It's a bit of a funny grouping.
1982 Milwaukee Brewers: Harvey's Wallbangers! They won 95 games in real life, close to their Pythagorean projection of 96. The 1978-1983 period was really the only period of sustained success in franchise history. A couple of more recent teams (2011 and 2018) won 96 games, but had worse predicted records. Besides, when push comes to shove, how do you not go with these guys?
1984 Detroit Tigers: I wasn't quite old enough to be a baseball fan when the Big Red Machine was active, so this was the first team I remember that was touted as one of the all-time greats. And here it is. They outplayed their Pythagorean record by a few games, but are still pretty handily the best Tigers team of the past 50 years (but not the past 52).
1994 Chicago White Sox: A strike victim, they were on a 96-win pace (with a 98-win Pythagorean projection) but of course got nothing. Frank Thomas had a monster year. I kind of feel like they're going to get killed in this league, but maybe not as badly as I feel like the Brewers will..
2019 Minnesota Twins: A 101-win team, and easily the best Pythagorean record of any Twins team since 1969, but damned if I could tell you anything about them (even though they're the most recent team in the league). The Yankees beat them in the playoffs, because of course the Yankees beat them in the playoffs. I suppose I'll learn more about them as the season goes on!
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