MLB Team X-Factors for 2017, Part V: NL Central

As we take a look at the one player who will have the greatest impact on each MLB team, we continue with the National League Central.

The National League Central. Many baseball fans already have the division written in stone. The Chicago Cubs at the top, the Cincinnati Reds at the bottom, and it doesn’t really matter anywhere between that.

Let’s be careful, though. As many have noted, division winner turnover is a real thing, and there are many teams that we have believed to be absolute locks who have thoroughly disappointed. It seems to happen to the Boston Red Sox every other year.

We think of this as the Cubs division right now because we are in-the-moment creatures. Before 2016, the Cubs were struggling to get over the hump, struggling to topple a Cardinals dynasty that had won three straight division titles. Before 2016, the Pittsburgh Pirates had made the playoffs (at least the wild card game version) the last three years and seemed like a team with an upward trajectory. Last season certainly may have been a sign of things to come (Cubs mini-dynasty starting, Pirates star aging fast), but there’s also a very good chance we look back on 2016 as a slight blip in the radar. A one-off in which the Pirates fell flat before returning to the postseason once again. A rare Cubs title for what is still a cursed franchise.

The NL Central may seem like it is set in stone, but as we all know, just when we think we have things figured out, the universe throws us a (Corey Kluber-esque) curveball.

So who are the players who could swing the NL Central in 2017? There are plenty of them, but here are five who seem the most primed to do so this season.