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2019 MLB Season: In the NL, it’s The Wild Wild… Central?

By Adam MacKinnon

CINCINNATI, OHIO - MAY 15: Joey Votto #19 and Eugenio Suarez #7 of the Cincinnati Reds celebrate after Suarez hit a game tying two run home run in the 8th inning against Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park on May 15, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO - MAY 15: Joey Votto #19 and Eugenio Suarez #7 of the Cincinnati Reds celebrate after Suarez hit a game tying two run home run in the 8th inning against Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park on May 15, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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2019 MLB Season: In the NL, it's The Wild Wild... Central?
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

During the 2019 MLB season, the NL Central is more of a five-team race than we thought. Who comes out on top?

It wasn’t exactly a secret.  As soon as Spring Training came to its usual unceremonious close, all eyes watching the senior circuit looked eastward. It seemed as though a clash of the Titans was shaping up between Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, and New York, and it would be the division to watch as the 2019 MLB season unfolded.

The Central division?

A two-horse race, and of course the St. Louis Cardinals could make it interesting.

The Cincinnati Reds had a cool lineup, but no pitching. The Chicago Cubs were cash poor with a lackluster bullpen. The Pittsburgh Pirates weren’t serious contenders, and the Cardinals, well… They could make it interesting I guess?

The Milwaukee Brewers were the clear favorites and even they had a glaring need for starting pitching.  Christian Yelich and Javy Baez aside, it just didn’t seem like anyone in the NL Central had the horses compete with the Dodgers or the Beasts in the East.

NOTE: If you’ve gotten through those first two paragraphs, you’ve realized by now that this was all incredibly wrong.

Instead, now we have the most competitive division in baseball, and it’s not even particularly close.  Just 3.5 games separate first to last place, and honestly, while every team still has glaring needs, a strong case could be made for each one of them to win, so let’s take a closer look at both sides of the coin for each team.

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