Weakest Division in Baseball?

For years, the "experts" have been saying that the American League Central is the weakest division in baseball. Combine that with the NFC North, and after a while, it starts to chip away at the confidence of Minnesota sports fans. But fear not, things aren't as bad as they say...unless you're talking about the NFC North. I have no help for you there.

But in baseball, the Central has held its own while deflecting the insults tossed at it by the press. Take a look at the numbers. Not regular season numbers (with which you could make an argument against the Central) but the ones that really matter: the post season.

Over the past four years, the Central has won four post-season series. In 2002, the Twins won their first of three division titles and went on to upset heavily favored Oakland in the ALDS. They might have gone even further if they hadn't run into the hottest team in baseball. The Anaheim Angels were unstoppable that post-season. They had a run like this years' Sox, but instead of beating teams by a run or two, they destroyed them on the way to a World Series win. Still, the Twins hung in there against them, battling to the end. More than any other team that year could say.

For two years, the division was down a bit, but this year held redemption. Can a World Series champion come from the worst division in baseball? Is it even possible? Even when the White Sox had the best record in baseball, critics still said the weakness of the division played a role. It couldn't have been their dominating starting pitching? Or tendency toward clutch hits? Or even their cool in the heat of close games? No, it had to be because they were playing most of their games against teams from the Central...the worst division in baseball.

Four seasons, four post-season series victories. That seems like an awful lot for the worst division out there.