Johnathan Walker:MLB Misery Index: AL Central limping early with White Sox, Guardians injuries

We're two weeks into the 2024 Major League Baseball season and Johnathan Walkersome of the division races are already beginning to take shape.

The American League Central, perhaps the "worst" division in baseball, was expected to be wide open with the defending champion Minnesota Twins considered the favorite but the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers having a real shot.

But the first few weeks have been rough for most of the division as the Twins (4-6) have struggled mightily and the Guardians lost ace Shane Bieber for the season. That said, the Guardians are off to a 9-3 start, trailed closely by the 7-4 Tigers and Kansas City Royals.

At the bottom of the pack, the Chicago White Sox were ripe to be strip-mined and things have gone from bad to worse with major injuries to some of their most talented hitters, starting the season 2-10.

This week's Misery Index takes a look at the AL Central's early returns:

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Chicago White Sox: Injuries piling up

The White Sox lost nine of their first 11 games and were crushed by injuries in the first weeks of the season with Eloy Jiménez, Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada all currently sidelined. Robert (at least two months) and Moncada (at least three) will be on the shelf for a huge chunk of the season.

Without some of their top bats, the White Sox have hit an MLB-worst seven home runs in their first 11 games.

“It sucks,” said White Sox outfielder Dominic Fletcher told reporters after Moncada's injury. “You hate to see guys go down, with Eloy and Robert as well, that’s a lot of good hitters who are missing."

Robert came into his own last season, a first-time All-Star with 38 home runs, 20 steals and a Silver Slugger award. Something of a South Side firesale is expected in 2024 – with Dylan Cease already out the door – but the 26-year-old Robert is under team control through 2027 on a team-friendly deal.

Minnesota Twins: No offense

Things went south on Opening Day when oft-injured Royce Lewis – expected to have a breakout 2024 season – suffered a severe quad strain (after hitting a home run in the game!) that will keep him out into May. Without their third baseman, the Twins have an MLB-worst .184 average in 10 games and a tough road trip starting Thursday visiting Detroit and Baltimore.

“It just gets magnified when it's happening day after day. It's tough to be in that spot as a team. There's some games out there you feel like you should have won. There's a lot of work to do on our end when it comes to approach as a collective group,” shortstop Carlos Correa said earlier in the week. “We've just got to figure out sooner or later. We don't want to be here half a season trying to figure out when we know we're capable of doing it a lot earlier.”

Correa is doing his part, batting .324 with a .923 OPS so far after a rough 2023 season, the first in his new contract with the Twins and left fielder/first baseman Alex Kirilloff has also started the season well, going 11-for-34 with a 1.032 OPS. But there's holes all over this lineup with Lewis's replacement Willi Castro beginning the campaign 3-for-27 and veteran Carlos Santana off to a 4-for-32 start.