Major League Baseball split into three divisions per league starting in 1994. The players went on strike Aug. 11. That wound up ending the regular season and wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years.
The playoffs were twice as large with three division champs and a wild-card team per league when the postseason arrived in 1995. The absurdity of a second wild-card and one-game shootouts in each league were added in 2012.
There have been 18 World Series in baseball's three-division era. Seven champions have come from the American League East (Yankees-5, Red Sox-2), four from the National League East (Florida-2, Atlanta, Philadelphia), three from the NL West (San Francisco-2, Arizona), two from the NL Central (St. Louis-2) and one apiece from the AL Central (White Sox) and the AL West (Angels).
The White Sox title came in 2005 and is the lone World Series championship for a Chicago franchise since 1917. The AL Central has sent four other teams to the World Series: Cleveland in 1995 and 1997, and Detroit in 2006 and 2012.
Two decades after the start of three-division play, the AL Central is not exactly a storied division. That said, I feel as if the Twins are currently in Detroit for a three-game series against a Tigers' team that should turn out to be the best-ever in the Central, barring injuries.
The Cleveland team of 1995 won 100 games in a 144-game scheduie, then powered its way into the World Series. Those were some frightening hitting teams the Indians put on the field in the mid-and-late '90s.
The White Sox team that rolled through October in 2005 was also tremendous. Yet, comparing those teams with the current Tigers, I like Detroit.
Here's a look at the AL Central teams that made it to the World Series, along with today's Tigers:
