The National League Central Division put together one of the finest collaborative seasons in MLB history last year. They put three teams into the playoffs, all winning 97 games or more. St. Louis continued to excel winning 100 games. The Pirates also kept their run of tremendous form going taking the first Wild Card with 98 wins. They were met in that contest by everybody’s favorite losers, the Cubs, who won 97 regular season games and made it all the way to the NLCS. It was a fantastic display of baseball from all three clubs, yet that dominance came at the expense of the other two teams in the division, the Reds and Brewers. This year though it looks as if those two are better equipped to fend for themselves. So while the NL Central’s big three are all potential playoff candidates once again, it is going to be a tougher road to traverse. Baseball’s best division has somehow found a way to one-up itself.
While the other two teams have been sleepwalking through portions of baseball’s opening month, the Cubs have seized control of the division as well as the headlines. Their offseason spending spree has produced mixed results thus far individually, but as a team they are firing on all cylinders. They are the second best offense in baseball (behind the Cardinals) scoring 123 runs and have only been kept off the board once all season. While new signings Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist are still finding their feet in Chicago, re-signing Dexter Fowler has been outstanding with a slash line of .368/.488/.662. Their pitching has been the difference though.
Reigning Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta has yet to be beaten and has thrown his second career no-hitter. But he still just second on the team in ERA (0.87) behind Jason Hammel’s 0.75. Jon Lester rounds out the trio of sub-2.00 ERA starters at the top of the rotation at 1.98. John Lackey isn’t that prolific with those averages, but he is striking out batters at the highest clip of his career (9.6 K/9) at the tender young age of 37. The bullpen has been just as stellar with Hector Rondon and Adam Warren pairing up to spit hot fire at opponents in the final two innings. This combination should keep them near, or at, the top of the NL Central all season.
Right behind the Cubbies are the Buccos. Pittsburgh was almost a forgotten team behind the consistent Cardinals and flashy Cubs, but they are probably the best balanced squad in the NL Central. Their worst everyday hitter, average-wise, is Andrew McCutchen, a man who just hit three home runs in a game on Tuesday. They can beat you with power, speed, or with patience as every position in the lineup knows their role and executes it to near perfection. John Jaso may not be your prototypical leadoff hitter, but he along with Gregory Polanco have shown that the Pirates aren’t just a free swinging bunch any more.
The pitching staff wasn’t given the same TLC in its construction, but it has gotten the job done. They’ve taken castaways and given them a fresh start at PNC Park. Jon Niese, Kyle Lobstein, and Ryan Vogelsong have yet to lose in 2016. That is great to see when you have two All-Star caliber hurlers such as Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano at the top of your rotation. The bullpen is also taking trash and turning it into treasure as well. A few poor pitches has made the statistics surrounding the Neftali Feliz reclamation project look worse than it really has been in front of closer Mark Melancon. Melancon has been one of the more solidified closers in baseball since he took over from Jason Grilli in 2013. His transformation from a “throw it by you” guy into a guile laden location guy seems to be rubbing off on Feliz, someone who to once relied on strikeouts to get the vast majority of his outs.
St. Louis has experienced some hiccups early on, but they already look as if they are righting the ship. An opening sweep isn’t a way for any team to start a year, even more so when you are coming off 100 wins and that sweep is at the hands of the team who finished directly behind you in the division. But nobody is surprised that the reigning NL Central champions are figuring it out sooner rather than later. That is just what they do. While heir to the throne Randal Grichuk has stumbled out of the gate, the Redbirds have found plenty of youngsters to help ease the burden. Shortstop Aledmys Diaz and outfielders Stephen Piscotty and Jeremy Hazelbaker are just the latest examples of how St. Louis has an endless supply of reinforcements.
The pitching staff is no different in terms of the “lesser” guys picking up the slack. While ace Adam Wainwright has been bombed over his first four starts to the tune of a 7.16 ERA and big signing Mike Leake is trying to power through a rocky start to his Cardinals career, the bottom of the rotation has more than kept the foundation of this Cardinals team strong. Those guys won’t stink it up all year, but until they fix themselves the Cardinals won’t feel much in the way of ill effects. Carlos Martinez doesn’t blow you away with his stuff, but now that he’s keeping his walks in check, he’s becoming incredibly effective. Jaime Garcia is continuing to rebuild his arm, and his reputation, after last year’s resurgence. Two and a half years marred by injuries is an afterthought now for the team’s strikeout leader. The bullpen is still anchored by Trevor Rosenthal, but the two strongest chains on that anchor are surprisingly the re-calibrated Jonathan Broxton and KBO veteran, and possessor of one of the best nicknames in the business, “Final Boss” Seung Hwan Oh.
But while everybody expected these three teams to be good, the two ugly ducklings in the NL Central, Cincinnati and Milwaukee, have shown that they aren’t as far away from rejoining the party as they were last season. Cincinnati’s rookie starter experiment from a year ago has given the likes of Raisel Iglesias and Brandon Finnegan the confidence they needed. The offense is always going to be good in the Great American Ballpark, and it will be even better once Joey Votto gets hot. A shoddy bullpen has undone a fairly impressive start for the Reds. If they make a trade or find someone internally to replace the putrid J.J. Hoover, they could make some noise again.
The Brewers have also had their issues with pitching, but former MVP Ryan Braun looks to be fully back. He’s hitting .373 with 5 home runs and 17 RBI. He’s joined in the middle of the order by Chris Carter who has an NL best 9 doubles to go with his 5 home runs. Carter just looks more at home in the National League after being an AL guy up to this point in his career.
The NL Central may just be the best division in baseball, and potentially in any American sport, and they just keep getting better. It is going to be fun throughout the summer how these five teams play against one another and what moves they make to continue to one-up themselves as well as each other in their efforts to keep the Central’s representation in the NL playoffs at its maximum.