With the expanded postseason gone (for now), the 2021 season might well be the last with so much emphasis on winning the division in Major League Baseball. Sure, there could be some sort of Scott Wilson Men Jersey realignment in the near future, but the likelihood is that this is the last season in this current format where winning the division gets a team automatically one round deeper into the playoffs than the wild card(s).With that in mind, we're running through po sible X-factors in each division, and it's now time for the American League Central. The have won the division the last two seasons with Cleveland having taken home the honors the previous three years. The division was actually home to four of five AL pennant winners from 2012-16 but has since gone four straight seasons without having a team reach the Fall Cla sic. In fact, it hasn't had a team reach the ALCS since 2016.Will that change in 2021? If so, the easiest path is to winning the division in the regular season. Let's take a look at each team's biggest X-factor.Even after trading several frontline starters in recent years, the Cleveland pitching a sembly line keeps on chugging and I fully expect them to be among the best in baseball at run prevention. When it comes to scoring runs, however, especially after trading away superstar shortstop and losing to free agency, one thought comes to mind: can only do so much on his own.All small-sample caveats apply, of course, with a 60-game, pandemic-affected season, but here's where Cleveland ranked last season in the most important offensive categories:Batting average: 23rdOn-base percentage: 19thSlugging percentage: 26thRuns: 25thHome runs: 27thYeah, they were bad. Santana and Lindor are now gone and they combined for 26 percent of the team runs scored, 24 percent of their RBI and 27 percent of their home runs.Slugging outfielder was signed in free agency. He's plenty capable of hitting 30 homers, but his ceiling isn't that of a star. His OPS+ the last four seasons, respectively: 119, 116, 107, 115. Knowing that, he's probably going to be roughly 15 percent better than average at getting on base and hitting for power, which is to say he's a good hitter, not a great hitter. Infielders and came over in the Lindor/Carlos Carrasco trade. Rosario is still only 25 years old, but in over 1,500 plate appearances he's sitting on a 91 OPS+. Gimenez is very intriguing with big upside, but he's only 22 and has had only 132 big-league plate appearances after skipping Triple-A to hit the bigs last season.Everyone else is a holdover. Did the roster actually improve with Santana and Lindor going out and Gimenez and the Rosarios coming in? Nope.Ramirez was amazing last season, so you can't ask for more. was probably close to his ceiling. Paul Martin Kids Jersey Really, the internal improvement likely needs to come from the group of (didn't play last year), (was brutal last year but serviceable in 2019), (good upside but inconsistent and inexperienced) and (bad last year but very good in 2019). There's enough here to convince one's self that the group will be around league average in 2021. If they do improve to that point, it's a playoff team. If they sit around 25th in runs scored, though, which is a realistic prediction, they'll mi s the postseason for the second time in three years.The White Sox have all kinds of upside with the talent on hand. They had the AL MVP last season in . The lineup is full of potential All-Stars. The rotation has a former Cy Young winner and three pitchers who finished in the top seven of Cy Young voting last season. Hell, new Jarred Tinordi Jersey closer finished ninth in that vote and also won AL Reliever of the Year honors. See? This is a stacked baseball team. It's a high-powered offense with three aces and a stud closer! What could go wrong?Injuries could really derail them, and this isn't me saying the are injury-prone. Injuries do happen to every team, though, and the White Sox aren't really built to withstand many. Beyond the stellar trio of , and , here's what the Sox have in the rotation: , who has an -career high 73 innings and took steps backward last season in strikeout percentage and walk percentage. , who has never been better than mediocre in parts of six seasons. , who is 11-18 with a 5.52 ERA the last two years combined. , who had Tommy John surgery in 2018, opted out of last season and is slated for the bullpen.Shrug emojiThe fifth starter is going to be a big question mark anyway, but Cease is no sure thing and a major injury to Giolito, Keuchel or Lynn -- or, cover your eyes, White Sox fans, more than one of them -- would be a disaster.It's not just the rotation.The backup catcher looks like . He hit .237 with a 73 OPS+ in 2018 and 2019 combined and didn't get an MLB plate appearance last season. Can lock down the DH spot? The upside for the 2019 third Mark Recchi Jersey overall pick is immense, but he has only 245 profe sional plate appearances under his belt with the highest level being High-A. He hit .252/.349/.411 in 29 High-A games in 2019. If he doesn't stick, the White Sox don't really have a DH (or if they use Abreu at DH, they don't have a 1B; if they use at DH, they don't have a good left fielder, etc.)Even if Vaughn is big-league ready right now and sticks as an everyday DH, here are the backup options for the position players:Infield: , , Outfield: , GarciaIn the bullpen, Hendriks could well be the best reliever in baseball. looked outstanding last year and was also very good. Beyond that? It's a whole lot of questions. It isn't difficult to envision a deep playoff run from the White Sox with their stellar lineup, a trio of aces, Cease as a fourth starter and an excellent back-end of the bullpen anchored by Hendriks. But the 162-game marathon will present them some injuries and they aren't built to withstand many of them. A few major injuries could bury them. Better cro s your fingers for good health, South Siders, because if they get that, they are one of the best teams in baseball.The most painful stage of a rebuild is the tanking phase, and the hope in Detroit is that's now in the past. The Tigers went a woeful 64-98 in consecutive seasons before outdoing themselves with one of the worst seasons in baseball history in 2019 at 47-114. For their trouble, they got two No. 1 overall picks and a top-five pick in a three-year span.The focus now turns to the progre s made not only from the drafts but also from the trading of veterans for prospects. Here are some we either will or might see in the 2021 season. , RHP: The 2018 first overall pick was knocked around to the tune of a 6.99 ERA in seven starts last year, but Jimmy Hayes Jersey he'd previously never even thrown a pitch in Triple-A. We've seen flashes of how good he can be. He's . , RHP: He's close to the majors and . He has ace upside. , LHP: The former ninth-round pick has huge upside with his swing-and-mi s ability (he struck out 179 in 122 2/3 innings in 2019 between High-A and Double-A), bu