Monday afternoon will be the Twins season opener as they play the Seattle Mariners at Seattle. Twins are coming off a good year and they are going to try to build on that by taking the next step which is beating a big-market team in NY, Boston, and LA Angels of Anaheim.

I have high expectations with this team. I expect the Twins to win the AL Central. They got the pitching and their hitting will be improved over last year with a full year of Justin Morneau and a healthy Joe Mauer. The division will be competitive with Detroit and Cleveland knocking on the door, but the Twins pitching is the difference.

Can the Twins go to the World Series? Definitely. I thought the Twins fared very well in the ALDS last year and I thought the Yankees earned their wins against them which is someting you could not say two years ago in which the Yankees outclassed them. Still, things have to go right. For instance, Joe Mauer needs to be healthy and that's going to be an issue all year long. The 3-4-5 starters are the key. Twins need a legitimate yet reliable third starter. Can Joe Mays be the guy? Can Carlos Silva be better than last year? Can Kyle Lohse get his act together?

I think this team has a chance to do something special. Twins got the chemistry and the players to get it done. It just has to work on the field.

Here are my AL Central Division Standings:
Twins
Indians
Tigers
Royals
Whiney Sux