Twins' Rocco Baldelli decision shows AL Central has totally flipped in Tigers' favor

There are a couple of uncompetitive divisions in baseball this year, but none might be as wholly uncompetitive as the AL Central. This is not to discredit the Tigers — who have the best record in baseball — but the 9.5-game gap between Detroit and the second-place Guardians (through June 24) is the largest margin between any first and second place team.

The Guardians are also the only other AL Central team to have an above-.500 record, while the Royals and Twins trail under .500 and the White Sox continue to be one of the worst teams on the planet.

And, on Monday, Dan Hayes of the Athletic reported that the Twins had picked up manager Rocco Baldelli's option for 2026 at some point earlier in the season. This was probably before the Twins went 6-16 so far in June and lost hold of a winning record, but it doesn't exactly bode well for Minnesota's future.

The AL Central was always going to be wide open, but no one could have predicted exactly how easy it was going to be for the Tigers to dominate.

Twins keeping manager Rocco Baldelli on after embarrassing June skid is music to the Tigers' ears

So the White Sox and Twins are completely out of it and the Royals have suffered two separate six-game losing streaks this season and are currently in the midst of a three-game losing streak. The Guardians represent the only marginal threat to the Tigers' hold on the top of the division, but they have a lot of ground to cover if they want to make that threat look real (and they're now 1.5 games behind the surging Mariners for the last AL Wild Card spot).

It's a little easier to see why the Tigers have a lot of naysayers outside of their fanbase when the landscape of the AL Central looks this bleak. But, again, the Tigers have already beaten opponents they could very well see in October.

It's not over 'til it's over and all that, but the Tigers look like they have a very clear runway to winning the division. If they can shore up weaker areas of the lineup at the trade deadline — and if the Guardians decide to sell — then fans will have every reason to be optimistic.

But if we're looking at the bigger picture, the infrastructure of this division is continuing to benefit the Tigers greatly, which puts greater emphasis on them cashing in at the trade deadline and making the proper impact moves in free agency the next few seasons.