While the Detroit Tigers made some dramatic moves in order to defend their crown, they certainly were not the only active team in the American League Central this offseason.

The Cleveland Indians have made some improvements as they will try to build on last year's surprise playoff performance, the Chicago White Sox have set themselves up for a very bright future and the Minnesota Twins have added some veteran pitching to improve their league-worst staff.

The team that will push Detroit the most, however, is the Kansas City Royals.

Kansas City's rash of young talent finally started to come through in 2013, finishing with a winning record for the first time since 2003. Plenty of the team's fourteen-game improvement from the season before was due to an active offseason, as the Royals added James Shields, Ervin Santana, Wade Davis and Jeremy Guthrie to what used to be a weak rotation.

The Royals already posed a challenge to Detroit in 2013, taking the season series ten-games-to-nine. They should feel comfortable in head-to-head matchups with the Tigers given last year's record, and being able to play good baseball against their biggest competitor for the division is a huge factor in the team's playoff chances.

Look no further than last year's Tigers. They were a stunning 15-4 against the Cleveland Indians, but finished only one game ahead of them in the race for the Central.

Now, the Royals have signed away former Tiger second baseman Omar Infante, who hit .375 against them last year. They also swung a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers in which they landed Norichika Aoki, who will provide an upgrade in right field.

With the Tigers arguably getting worse this past offseason, the Kansas City Royals should feel fairly confident in their chances to shock baseball and be the first team outside of the Motor City to win the Central since 2010.