USA Today projects White Sox as 90-win team

Spring training starts this week, so it's the time of year where various publications start to make preseason predictions.

I'm used to seeing the White Sox picked to finish in fourth or fifth place, so it gets your attention when somebody chooses the South Siders to place first in the AL Central.

USA Today Sports released its projected win totals Monday, and look who it has sitting atop the deepest division in baseball:

1. White Sox 90-72
2. Kansas City 84-78
3. Cleveland 83-79
4. Detroit 82-80
5. Minnesota 80-82

The publication has the White Sox, Boston and Houston as AL division champions with Toronto and Texas as the two wild-card teams. The projected NL division winners are the Cubs, San Francisco and Washington, with St. Louis as a wild card and Los Angeles and Pittsburgh tied for the second wild-card spot.

The USA Today writer referred to the AL Central as "hell" for both prognosticators and the five teams involved. All five teams are described as having a chance to win the division, and, well, any of these teams could also finish last. It's a balanced, tough division.

That's much different than the narrative we get here in Chicago, where Sox fans are told their team has no chance, and that we should go stand in the corner because we stink.

I personally believe Kansas City is a clear favorite in the division, but I think the other four teams are extremely close. It is going to be an exciting year in the AL Central, because there are no bad teams.

And, really, most everyone in the American League enters the season with some hope. The USA Today projections have Oakland with an AL-worst 66 wins, but every other team in the league is projected to win at least 77. There aren't going to be many easy series in the American League this year.

Contrast that with the National League, where 40 percent of the league (Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Colorado and San Diego) has quit on the season before it has even started.

USA Today projects Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Colorado to lose 100 games or more. Milwaukee is projected to lose 98 games, Atlanta 95 losses and San Diego 89 losses.

Remember last year, when the top three records in baseball were all in the NL Central? St. Louis won 100, Pittsburgh 98 and the Cubs 97, and people thought it was this awesome division. Well, sort of. Those are impressive win totals, but it's easier to rack up 95-plus wins when so many teams in the same league are basically conceding and playing for draft picks. Six of the seven 90-loss teams in 2015 resided in the National League. It might be much the same this year.

The USA Today projections have the Cubs with 101 wins and the Cardinals with 97. I don't doubt that we'll see some gaudy win totals in the NL again, but keep in mind, the AL looks like the deeper league. So, 90 to 95 wins in the AL this year might be more impressive than 95 to 100 wins in the NL.