The American League Central seemed pretty cut and dried before this year’s season started, but after nearly a month it seems our initial thoughts have been turned upside down.

The White Sox, Twins and Royals are in the top half, while the Indians and Tigers, two of last year’s top teams, are at the bottom.

It seems the AL Central should be pretty easy to predict, and perhaps it is. But as we have seen the past few seasons, the Central can be one of the most confusing divisions in baseball.

We’ll start with the Tigers. Detroit made lots of noise in the offseason by acquiring Miguel Cabrera, one of the top third basemen in the game, and Dontrelle Willis, a starting pitcher from the Marlins who was thought to be an established presence on the mound.

However, the season started slowly, and the Tigers lost their first seven games of the season. While this would have been merely a footnote for any other team, Detroit was a popular pick to win the World Series. Comically enough, no team that has started 0-7 has ever won the World Series.

While the Tigers have since rebounded, a seven-game losing streak at any point in the season is hard to overcome, much less one at the very beginning. Currently, Detroit is five games behind first place and sits at the bottom of the AL Central standings. To put it in perspective, the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates are also five games out of first place. Fantastic.

The Cleveland Indians, last year’s AL Central champions, also find themselves near the bottom of the barrel. Without making any huge moves during the offseason, the Indians find themselves with a team similar to last season’s. Grady Sizemore still patrols center field, C.C. Sabathia is the ace and Travis Hafner is the imposing designated hitter.

However, Cleveland is consistently failing to win series to begin the season and has even demoted their closer Joe Borowski. As it sits right now, it seems the Indians are merely having trouble with consistency early in the season. However, since the team is more or less the same as last season, consistency should have come much sooner.

An exciting team to follow could be the Kansas City Royals. While they have been pitiful for what seems like centuries, their prospects and other younger players are finally beginning to step up.

For instance, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon, two of Kansas City’s top prospects, are already on the Major League roster and showing that they belong. Gordon had a rough season last year but already has shown that he is years ahead of where he finished last season.

The team has also seen a resurgence from former top prospect Zack Greinke, who nearly quit baseball because of psychological issues.

With their younger players beginning to step up, the Royals look to have improved from years past and should be a pesky opponent throughout the season.

Another team that is throwing off the order of the AL Central is the Chicago White Sox, who were more or less forgotten last year when they finished with one of the worst records in baseball. The team had a rash of injuries throughout the season and just seemed to age very quickly.

This season, with a similar cast of characters, the Sox will need their veteran players to remain healthy. This means geriatrics like Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and Jose Contreras will have to retain some sort of ability in order for the team to win. As it stands now, the Sox are in first place in the Central. However, if one of more of their important veterans decides to buy the farm, they could find themselves finishing in a similar position as last year.

Finally, the Minnesota Twins. The Twinkies lost their franchise player, Johan Santana, as well as fan favorite Torii Hunter during the offseason. But with the loss came reinforcements. The Twins acquired a young but exciting prospect in Carlos Gomez, as well as a blue-chipper in Delmon Young. Add those players to established threats like Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, and the offense actually appears somewhat capable.

However, Minnesota finds itself without any real strength in its rotation. With Santana gone, Francisco Liriano was slated to be the staff ace. Liriano, though, is only one year removed from Tommy John surgery and has looked like a shell of his former self so far in the season.

That leaves people like Scott Baker and Livan Hernandez to pick up the slack. While they can be entirely capable starting pitchers, it is too much to ask of them to carry the team throughout the season. That being the case, the Twins can probably finish no higher than third in the AL Central.

With all five teams concisely run down, the Indians and Tigers still seem to be the best of the bunch. And with the season not even a month old, there is still time for each team to rebound. However, the Tigers would really need to figure it out soon if they want to see the postseason.

I’ll take the Indians to rebound and win the Central with the Tiger close behind. From there it would be the White Sox, Twins and Royals.

World Series prediction? Diamondbacks over Red Sox in five.