Feb. 16--Chicago, are you ready for playoff baseball? On both sides of town?
USA Today projected win totals for every major-league team and forecasts the Cubs and White Sox as winners of the Central divisions.
The newspaper projects the Cubs to finish with a majors-best 101 victories, four better than the division rival Cardinals.
Perhaps more surprising, the White Sox are projected for 90 victories, tied with the Astros for the most in the American League. That's six more wins than are forecast for the defending World Series champion Royals.
USA Today's Gabe Lacques writes, "It may become trendy to knock the Cubs down a peg, but there's just too much going on here. Beyond the obvious, we see a bullpen well-equipped to deal with back-end rotation shortcomings. And when they add one more starter in July, see you later."
On the AL Central race, Lacques writes, "This is baseball's deepest division, with five teams capable of winning it -- and almost as many that could finish last. We feel random things happening, so hello, White Sox. Everyone loves their Todd Frazier acquisition, and the ball should jump off his bat at U.S. Cellular Field. We prefer the possibly unparalleled 1-2 rotation punch of Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, backed by a full season of Carlos Rodon, who struck out 139 batters in 13961/37 innings as a rookie."
