The top 3 factors to determine whether Cleveland Guardians win or lose AL Central in 2023

Hope springs eternal. It's true for every club playing in Arizona and Florida, ramping up for a grinding 162-game season (thanks to a normal schedule not truncated by an owners' lockout this year).

For the Guardians, they're entering what appears to be a three-team race with the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox in the American League Central. The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals are still working through extended rebuilds. After all, Bobby Witt Jr. is only one man.

With Major League Baseball's new, more balanced schedule, the Guardians will play these teams less often than they had in the past. The AL Central has tended to be a lighter group in recent years, allowing for the contenders to beat up on teams within the division, but that won't be the case in 2023, which could impact the Wild Card race.

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But as for the Central, the Guardians enter as the reigning division champs coming off of a 92-win season that few outside of their own clubhouse thought they'd put together. Here's a look at the biggest factors that could determine whether they repeat as champs or fall short to the Twins or White Sox in 2023.

The Guardians lineup: Young, contact-based hitters are adjusting to league's adjustments in 2023

One of the biggest storylines of the Guardians' 2022 season was their contact-first, old-school lineup that reversed the recent league-wide trend built on power and the three true outcomes (home runs, walks, strikeouts). Led by Steven Kwan, who perfectly embodied that style of play while taking over the leadoff spot as the season progressed, the Guardians were able to ground teams down with a series of difficult outs and another top-six MVP finish from Jose Ramirez.

Kwan and Oscar Gonzalez made their MLB debuts and left a major mark on the lineup. Andres Gimenez had a breakthrough year en route to starting at second base for the AL in the All-Star Game.

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And one of the key factors of the 2023 team will be how those young hitters adjust to the adjustments the league is making to them. Baseball is a game of constant adjustments and, later, counter-adjustments. Pitchers are always scouring for ways to attack hitters differently. And the sport can be cruel, in a way, and one that leads to slumps that are sometimes unavoidable. Kwan, for example, went ice cold for several weeks before breaking out of it and finishing the season as one of the top rookies in the American League.

If the Guardians are to succeed in 2023, they'll need to avoid — at least to an extent — the kind of hurdles that can accompany young players, as many are entering their sophomore seasons or, like Gimenez, hoping to build off a steppingstone year. The additions of veterans Josh Bell and Mike Zunino certainly help in that regard.

Manager Terry Francona noted at multiple times last year that they knew to expect bumps in the road with such a young roster. Francona then helped the Guardians to navigate those speed bumps en route to a return to the postseason. One of the main keys to 2023, again, is how the Guardians handle heightened expectations and what the league does to counter their lineup.