{"id":2333875,"date":"2026-03-17T22:01:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2333875"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:01:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:01:35","slug":"atlanta-braves-season-preview-2026-al-central-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/atlanta-braves-season-preview-2026-al-central-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Braves season preview: 2026 AL Central Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Once again, the AL Central isn\u2019t looking like the strongest division in all of baseball. With that being said it\u2019s definitely an interesting one. There\u2019s only one team that seems completely hopeless, while the other four have varying degrees of realistic hope and hope that\u2019s feasible but may require some of the optimistic delusion that abounds during this time of year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now it\u2019s time to take a look at what this division may have to offer here in 2026. Will the Guardians maintain their tenuous grip on the divisional title? Will the Tigers finally emerge to claim the title after they knocked Cleveland out of last year\u2019s Postseason? Will the Royals step it up and take the crown, themselves? Will the Twins recover from a disastrous 2025? Will the White Sox recover from a disastrous existence in general?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Notable Additions: INF Luisangel Acu\u00f1a, RP Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez, SP Erick Fedde, OF Austin Hays, RP Jordan Hicks, RP Anthony Kay, INF Munetaka Murakami, SP Sean Newcomb<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When will they play the Braves: Tuesday, June 9, Wednesday, June 10 and Thursday, June 11, al at 7:40 p.m. ET at Rate Field<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Well, they should be better than they were last season? Granted, that\u2019s not saying much since 102 losses in 2025 was actually an improvement itself after their historically-bad 2024 campaign but hey, progress is progress, right? Unfortunately for Chicago, it\u2019ll likely be slow progress since this is still looking like a last-place team for not just the AL Central but the American League as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The White Sox did manage to pull of a bit of a splash move for the first time in what feels like ages after they ended up signing Japanese posting Munetaka Murakami. Was this just a case of the White Sox swooping in on what ended up being a wildly depressing market for Murakami after it turned out that a lot of MLB scouts weren\u2019t exactly confident in the lefty bat\u2019s chances of transforming from NPB slugger to MLB slugger? Probably, since they ended up only getting him for two years and $34 million. With that being said, someone was going to give Murakami a chance and I applaud GM Chris Getz and the White Sox for at least trying.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s just about all the credit I can give them, though: The White Sox are<\/em><\/strong> trying! I believe that they have officially bottomed out from the absolute cratering that they suffered in 2024 and should at least be more than a speedbump for the contenders in the AL Central. I do like the additions of Seranthony Dominguez and Anthony Kay on two-year deals and the Austin Hays deal could end up being two years depending on how things go thanks to a mutual option. I can\u2019t say that I\u2019m too enthused about them signing Sean Newcomb and Erick Fedde for their pitching staff but hey, you gotta have arms and they are certainly arms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As you can imagine with a team of this caliber, though, the main focus is going to be on the young big leaguers and prospects developing. The White Sox may have something with Colson Montgomery at shortstop (even though he\u2019s apparently struggling through spring training right now), Miguel Vargas is starting to look like he\u2019s going to be a solid third baseman, Chase Meidroth should provide solid defense at second and Kyle Teel also seems like he\u2019ll be a reliable catcher as well (even though he\u2019ll be out for a bit due to a hamstring strain). Add Murakami at first base and suddenly this is not a bad-looking infield at all! If there were any signs of life in the outfield or at the DH spot then this could\u2019ve been a really interesting team!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead, Chicago\u2019s likely to languish at the bottom of the AL Central yet again. At least they\u2019ll have a handful of consensus Top-100 prospects to keep an eye on and they\u2019ll also be picking first overall in this year\u2019s draft. Also, notorious owner Jerry Reinsdorf is on the way out (not immediately but sometime in the future<\/a>) so that alone is worth celebrating for White Sox fans. They just probably won\u2019t have a lot to celebrate on the field any time soon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Notable Additions: RP Shawn Armstrong, RP Conor Brogdon, C Austin Hedges, OF Rhys Hoskins, RP Colin Holderman<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When do they play the Braves: Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11 at 7:15 p.m. ET. Sunday, April 12 at 7:20 p.m. ET. All games at Truist Park.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Guardians had a lowkey stinker of an offseason. They followed up a shocking AL Central win (despite that being three divisional titles out of the past four seasons for them) by doing little-to-nothing to add to their lineup in the offseason. Sure, they did make the Postseason last season as divisional champions but they somehow pulled that off with a run differential of -6. The Tigers ended up dumping them out of the AL Wild Card and theyr responded to that early exit by making Rhys Hoskins (on a minor league deal, no less) their \u201ccrown jewel\u201d signing heading into the season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s the main question for this team: Will the offense be able to pull their weight this season? On paper, it\u2019s looking like this is going to be another season where they\u2019ll be leaning heavily on their pitching staff while hoping that Jos\u00e9 Ramirez is the one who\u2019ll be doing the heavy lifting at the plate. There\u2019s really only two possibilities at play here: Either they figure that the offense should be a lot better than it was last season (despite not doing much to improve said offense) or ownership just decided to cheap out on the baseball operations. Considering that Ramirez is the only player on this team currently making more than $8 million, I think we know which one is the more likely possibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The pitching staff should be perfectly fine. Tanner Bibee has proven that he\u2019s a very good starter, Gavin WIlliams isn\u2019t too far behind and they\u2019ve got a wealth of options for their rotation with Logan Allen, Joey Cantillo, Slade Cecconi and Parker Messick in the mix. Closer Cade Smith is done floating under the radar and is starting to get recognized as being one of the best closers in the game right now with a four-seamer that has proven to be nearly un-hittable. It\u2019s going to be tough to score runs on this crew.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On the flip side, it\u2019s going to be tough for the Guardians to score runs on anybody. Aside from Ramirez, Steven Kwan figures to be the only sure thing to provide some consistent help i the hitting department. There\u2019s a lot of hype surrounding Chase DeLauter but like any other prospect, he\u2019s going to have to prove it at the big league level. Outside of Kwan and potentially DeLauter, there is not a lot to get excited about when it comes to tis lineup. Maybe Rhys Hoskins will revive his career and deliver some consistent hitting as well? There\u2019s just not too much hope for this lineup to improve over what they did last season and the pitching staff will have to be nails all season in order for this team to have a shot at retaining the AL Central crown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Notable Additions: SP Framber Valdez, 2B Gleyber Torres, RP Kyle Finnegan, SP Justin Verlander, RP Kenley Jansen, RP Drew Anderson<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When do they play the Braves: Tuesday, April 29 and Wednesday, April 29 at 7:15 p.m. ET. Sunday, April 26 at 1:35 p.m. ET. All games at Truist Park.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There\u2019s a very good chance that this could be the best (and last) opportunity that the Tigers will have to make some noise in the Postseason while having Tarik Skubal in their employ. Detroit didn\u2019t exactly seem enthused about paying Skubal a record amount of money via arbitration and once again, ownership\u2019s willingness (or reticence) to spend seems like it\u2019ll play a major factor in whether or not Skubal will stick around. With that being said, he\u2019s still here and is going to be here for the rest of the season (assuming the wheels don\u2019t fall off and they end up being sellers at the deadline) so again, this appears to be an all-or-nothing season facing the Tigers here in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They did a lot of work on their pitching staff and their rotation looks like it\u2019ll be the best in the AL Central. Framber Valdez is a huge addition and bringing back Justin Verlander is more than just a nostalgia play. Having Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize as middle-of-the-rotation guys is about as good as it\u2019ll get for a lot of teams \u2014 even if they\u2019ll be missing Reese Olson for the whole season. The bullpen should be reliable enough, with Will Vest and new acquisitions Kyle Finnegan and Kenley Jansen helping to fortify the relief pitching for this squad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Unlike in Cleveland, this lineup should definitely be able to pull their fair share of the weight. Riley Greene should lead the way at the plate as he\u2019s turned into a solidly above-average hitter. Gleyber Torres and Dillon Dingle shouldn\u2019t be too far behind with their offense as well. FanGraphs Depth Charts projections believes that top prospect Kevin McGonigle is the real deal and if he (and a potential arrival from other top prospect Max Clark) performs as expected then the Tigers will definitely have a shot at making this crucial year count in a big way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Notable Additions: OF Issac Collins, OF Lane Thomas, OF\/DH Starling Marte, RP Alex Lange, RP Nick Mears, RP Matt Strahm<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When do they play the Braves: Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 at 7:15 p.m ET. Sunday, March 29 at 1:35 p.m. ET. All games at Truist Park.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Tigers may have the best pitcher in this division but the Royals absolutely have the best player in this division in the form of Bobby Witt Jr. Assuming everything goes like normal, Witt should be an MVP candidate yet again and he\u2019s got all the tools to be one of those rare players who can leave a major impact on a game by himself. With that being said, this is the ultimate team sport and even the superstars in this sport will need help.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fortunately for Witt, hep is here. Maikel Garcia is playing to Witt\u2019s right at third base and that\u2019s a very formidable side of the infield for any team to deal with. Jonathan India can be dangerous on his best day, Vinnie Pasquantino should be flying into the season after an encouraging performance in the World Baseball Classic and Salvador Perez still commands respect behind the dish. The outfield is especially intriguing with the most intriguing figure of all being Jac Caglianone. If Cags can live up to his potential then that could be huge for a team that is already pretty solid all-around. He\u2019s got the potential to breakout and it would be massive for the Royals if this was the year where he did break out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There\u2019s also plenty to like about this pitching staff. Speaking of breakouts, Kris Bubic will be entering this season looking to prove that his breakout in 2025 is here to stay. Cole Ragans may have had his 2025 season curtailed by injuries but there\u2019s plenty of reason to believe that if he stays healthy then he\u2019ll be able to bounce back and return to the great form that he showed in 2024. Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo are both known commodities at this point and their veteran presence and steady mound production will keep this rotation afloat at times during this season. Noah Cameron should also be a very solid performer in this rotation as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The bullpen got a major boost with the addition of Matt Strahm and then Kansas City will have Lucas Erceg and Carlos Est\u00e9vez to reply on out of the pen as well. John Schrieber and Nick Mears should also be effective as well. This entire squad is just really solid all-around and I honestly wouldn\u2019t be shocked at all if they ended up being the ones to come out of this division as champions. The Tigers are tough as well but the Royals have what it takes to keep up and possibly even surpass Detroit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Notable Additions: 1B\/DH Josh Bell, C Victor Caratini, C Alex Jackson, 1B Eric Wagaman, IF Tristan Gray, RP Taylor Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When do they play the Braves:<\/em> Monday, August 17 and Tuesday, August 18 at 7:40 p.m. ET. Wednesday, August 19 at 1:40 p.m. ET. All games at Target Field.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I can\u2019t think of many more teams who had a more depressing end to the season than the Twins did. Minnesota made a real effort at contending in 2025 and then proceeded to sell off just under half of their big-league talent once things failed to materialize. As a result, they ended up losing 90 games for the first time since 2016 and are now looking like longshots to contend ten years later here in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s due to the fact that Minnesota\u2019s offseason dealings left a lot to be desired. A lot of this had to do with the fact that ownership decided to get involved with the offseason moves \u2014 so it\u2019s not a coincidence at all that the team got cheaper when it comes to payroll. Sure, the talent is here for the Twins to make a surprise run to the Postseason \u2014 Byron Buxton is still around and you can do a lot worse than having players like Royce Lewis, Luke Keaschall and Ryan Jeffers around. Joe Ryan is still a perfectly capable top-of-the-rotation hurler and the rest of the rotation may not be spectacular (with guys like Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and Taj Bradley available) but it should be enough to make sure that the Twins aren\u2019t terrible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s basically what the Twins are going for this season \u2014 simply avoid losing 90 games again. Now granted, once you\u2019re in the 80-loss territory then it\u2019s a thin line between being mediocre and being a Wild Card contender so there\u2019s certainly a universe where this all comes together for the Twins and they make a Postseason run. However, this is a team that\u2019s going to need everything going their way and the stars aligning perfectly for them to bounce back from a 2025 teardown and a relatively inactive offseason to follow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.batterypower.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once again, the AL Central isn\u2019t looking like the strongest division in all of baseball. With that being said it\u2019s definitely an interesting one. There\u2019s only one team that seems completely hopeless, while the other four have varying degrees of realistic hope and hope that\u2019s feasible but may require some of the optimistic delusion that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2333876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[452223,452224],"class_list":["post-2333875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-atlanta-braves-analysis","tag-atlanta-braves-game-information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Atlanta-Braves-season-preview-2026-AL-Central-Preview.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2333875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2333877,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333875\/revisions\/2333877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2333876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2333875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2333875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2333875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}