With three weeks nearly completed in the regular season already, it is time to look at how each team in the National League Central division is doing. There have been numerous surprises and disappointments already in this young season. With that being said, let’s start out by looking at one of the biggest surprises: the Milwaukee Brewers and their 11-5 record, tops in baseball.
The Brewers were a popular pick by many, including myself, to surprise this season. I had them tabbed in the mid-80s for a win total before the season began. However, if the back of their rotation and bullpen continue to excel as they have thus far, they could do even better than that. The Brewers had a rough start to their season, dropping 2 of 3 against the Braves as their offense struggled. After that however, their offense kicked it into high gear, scoring 53 runs over the course of nine games, all wins as they swept the Red Sox, Phillies, and Pirates. The Cardinals ended their winning streak and took two of three games in an early season test at Miller Park, and the Brewers finally lost a road game against the Pirates Thursday night in an 11-2 drubbing. Depth is one of the issues that confronts the Brewers over the course of the season, and the bullpen may find it hard to produce at the level they have thus far, but if the Brewers can stay healthy, they could challenge the Cardinals for the division all season.
As of today, the Cardinals sit just behind the Brewers at 10-6 after a convincing 8-0 shutout of the Nationals Thursday night. The offense for the Cards started slow, with many key players such as Allen Craig, Matt Holliday, and new shortstop Jhonny Peralta struggling. Peralta in particular struggled with just two hits in his first ten games with the season (both were home runs). Pitcher Shelby Miller also struggled early on, giving up 8 earned runs and 4 homers in just 11.1 innings pitched in his first two starts, both losses. Beginning with the second game of the Cubs-Cardinals series on Saturday, the lineup began to turn things around. Including Saturday, the Cardinals have scored 35 runs in six games, winning 5 of them. Peralta has seen his average rise up to .208, which while still not great, is much better than the sub-.100 average he had, and he has contributed 4 homers and 8 RBIs thus far. Holliday has returned to being Matt Holliday, while Yadier Molina and Matt Adams have made up for the continued slow start of Craig, with both hitting well over .300. Miller meanwhile turned in a nice third start, pitching six innings of one-run ball and striking out seven Tuesday against the Brewers. The Cardinals are in the midst of a season-high 11 game road trip, and if the offense stays hot the Cardinals may find this as an early season-defining moment.
Currently third in the division standings are the Pittsburgh Pirates at 8-8. The Pirates have shown flashes of the surprising team from last year, taking 2 of 3 from the Cardinals, 4 of 6 from the Cubs. However, they split a very winnable 4 game series against the depleted Reds, which included a game with a combined ten homers between the two teams which was suspended due to rain and won by the Reds the next day, and were swept by the Brewers in Milwaukee last weekend. The Pirates continue to get great pitching from their bullpen, and have seemingly succeeded in another pitching reclamation project thus far with Edinson Volquez, who has a 1.71 ERA through 21 innings of work. However, their offense has been very streaky, scoring in bunches or seemingly being completely shut down. The consistency of their lineup will ultimately be the telling point in whether or not the Pirates can repeat their success from a year ago.
Bringing up the rear in the division are the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs were expected to struggle again this year with yet another year devoted to rebuilding. The Reds, on the other hand, were expected to contend. Hit hard by injuries in spring training and early in the year, the Reds have limped to a 6-9 record to begin the year. Missing Mat Latos from their rotation, and numerous relievers including Aroldis Chapman, it is easy to see why the Reds have struggled early, and I can see them turning it around in a hurry once they get healthy. However, there have been other concerns, such as the struggles of Billy Hamilton at the top of their lineup, who has the tall task of trying to replace Shin-Soo Choo’s production. The production of Hamilton will be an important story to continue watching as the year progresses.
As far as the Cubs go, there have been some positive storylines even as the team has started out 4-10. Anthony Rizzo, one of the key cogs for the future for the Cubs, has bounced back thus far from last year, and is hitting .333 with 2 homers and 8 runs driven in. The same goes for Starlin Castro, their talented yet troubled young shortstop, who is hitting .298 with 2 homers and 8 RBIs. Emilio Bonifacio has also proven to be a capable leadoff hitter, batting .339 with an on base percentage of nearly .390. The production of these three will be key in telling whether or not the Cubs can make baseball interesting in the North side of Chicago in another otherwise down year.