The National League Central is likely to be the most crowded division in baseball this season with every team having a shot if everything breaks right.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be going division by division highlighting what needs to go right for each team in 2019. I last discussed the American League East, now let’s move on to the National League Central.
It was a big winter for many teams as they either positioned themselves for the 2019 playoff race or distanced themselves for future success. The off-season was also a quiet time for some teams that did not seem to have a clear path toward contention or rebuilding.
Regardless of how successful or disappointing each team’s off-season was, every team has things that can break right for them this season. Whether that means enough things go well that a surprise team sneaks into the playoffs, a juggernaut hits on all cylinders and wins the World Series or a rebuilding team has young players develop in positive ways.
The National League Central might be the most interesting division in the entire sport. Just about every team made significant moves to improve their rosters this off-season making this the only true five team divisional race in all of Major League Baseball. The division is projected to be separated by less than ten games from top to bottom and the team with the most things going their way will likely be crowned division champion at the end of the year.