The days are getting longer and baseball is right around the corner.
We'll continue our countdown to Opening Day 2016 by looking at the AL Central.
The Royals will be looking to make it to the World Series for the third straight year, the Tigers look to bounce back from an unexpected last-place finish and the Indians, Twins and White Sox all have potential to improve.
We've already looked at the NL East, AL East and NL Central. Here are our predictions for the AL Central in 2016. To view this article in slideshow form, CLICK START at the top right of this page.
Kansas City Royals (95-67 in 2015)
The Royals return with their core mostly intact as they hunt their second straight World Series championship and third trip to the Fall Classic.
Most people doubted that Kansas City would get back to the World Series, but they defied expectations and won it all to end a 30-year drought in 2015.
The club lost its rental players in Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist, but still has great potential in 2016.
The Royals have an impressive 1-9 lineup, starting with Alcides Escobar up top and including Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon in the heart of the order. Cain finished fifth in the AL with a .307 batting average last season.
The Royals are a pesky bunch that makes contact, uses speed on the basepaths and plays very strong defense.
Kansas City brought in Ian Kennedy to place behind ace Edinson Volquez at the top of the rotation, while Yordano Ventura, Chris Young and Kris Medlen should round it out. The Royals also have a strong bullpen, even with Greg Holland slated to miss the season due to Tommy John surgery.
The Royals won't be able to surprise anyone based on their last two seasons, but they still appear to be the team to beat in the AL Central.
Minnesota Twins (83-79)
The Twins have a lot of exciting young players to watch and surprised many by finishing over .500 last season.
Minnesota added power hitter Byung ho-Park from Korea this offseason to put a potent bat in their lineup, which includes young players with a lot of upside, including former No. 2 overall pick Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano.
Joe Mauer and Kurt Suzuki add a veteran presence to stabalize the lineup, while Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe will each look to have bounce-back years at the top of the lineup.
A weakness for the Twins could be their rotation as Ervin Santana is their ace after compiling a 4.00 ERA. Behind him, names such as Phil Huges, Tommy Milone and Ricky Nolasco aren't very exciting.
Minnesota overachieved last year, but if ho-Park can live up to expectations and their young players continue to thrive at the big-league level, it may be competitive again in 2016.
Cleveland Indians (81-80)
The Indians have had three straight winning seasons under manager Terry Francona, but have only made the postseason once -- a Wild Card Game loss to the Rays in 2013.
Cleveland has quite a few new faces in its lineup, including Mike Napoli, who hit just .224 overall last season between the Red Sox and Rangers, Marlon Byrd, Juan Uribe and Rajai Davis.
The lineup will be missing a big name on Opening Day as Michael Brantley (shoulder) won't be ready after ranking first in the AL in doubles (45), third in on-base percentage (.379) and fourth in batting average (.310) last season.
Carlos Santana and Yan Gomes will look to bounce back from disastrous years, while Jason Kipnis will hope to continue to be a force in the middle of the lineup.
Clevland will rely on Corey Kluber, who finished third in strikeouts (245) and WHIP (1.05) in the AL last season and Carlos Carrasco, who placed third in strikeouts per walk (10.58) to be the 1-2 punch they were in 2015.
The Indians may be too reliant on their top two starters and have too many players in need of bounce-back years, so it could be hard to reach the playoffs in 2016.
Chicago White Sox (76-86)
After another disappointing season, the White Sox will look to bounce back in 2016.
The addition of Todd Frazier (third in NL with 35 homers in 2015) from the Reds to compliment young, rising Jose Abreu was a big one, while Chris Sale is still one of the elite pitchers in the game.
Chicago added a lot of veterans this season, including Jimmy Rollins, Brett Lawrie, Austin Jackson and Alex Avila. The lineup isn't amazing on paper, but having Adam Eaton set the table for Abreu and Frazier could help the White Sox be more of a threat in 2016.
Sale will spearhead the rotation once again after striking out an AL-best 274 batters last season. Carlos Rodon also has some upside, but the rest of the rotation leaves a lot to be desired.
Jose Quintana is coming off of a decent season, but John Danks and Mat Latos are huge question marks at the bottom of the rotation.
The White Sox have some nice pieces, but likely not enough for them to advance to the postseason in 2016.
Detroit Tigers (74-87)
After four straight seasons as division champions, the Tigers had an injury-riddled campaign and surprisingly finished 2015 in last place.
The Tigers lineup is loaded with the addition of Justin Upton to a unit that includes Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez. Health is certainly a factor when it comes to this team. Cameron Maybin (fractured hand) will also eventually play a role.
Last season, MIguel Cabrera led the Majors with a .330 average and paced the AL with a .440 on-base percentage, but only played in 119 games. Martinez was limited to just 120 contests.
Still, Detroit has a loaded enough lineup to be a force in the AL Central. Martinez finished fifth in the AL in total bases (319) in 2015, while Kinsler placed fourth in hits (185).
Justin Verlander will head the rotation, while new imports Jordan Zimmermann and Mike Pelfrey round it out with Anibal Sanchez and Shane Greene.
The Tigers had some terrible luck with their bullpen last season, but completely revamped it in the offseason with myriad changes that included bringing in Francisco Rodriguez as the new closer.
The Tigers seem poised to battle it out with the Royals over AL Central supremacy after last season's hiccup.
The Prediction
Here are our projected standings for the AL Central in 2016:
1) Royals (91-71)
2) Tigers (85-77)
3) Twins (81-81)
4) Indians (78-84)
5) White Sox (77-85)
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