The Reds are better within the NL Central
Nearly 100 of every team’s games are played against divisional opponents. Not only does Cincinnati have the best in-division record of any NL Central team, at 24-13 they are tied with Houston for the best record within their division in all of MLB.
The Brewers, at 24-16, are close, meaning that a lot of the story of the remainder of the2021 NL Central season will be told in head-to-head meetings.
The Reds have 38 divisional games left, the Brewers have 35. But Cincinnati has one potentially fascinating advantage. An opportunistic 13 of those final 38 divisional games are against the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates. Nine of those 13 Pirate games – including the final three — will be played in September when pennant pressure ratchets up.
The Brewers play Pittsburgh nine more times, but they do not see the division’s tail-end club at all after mid-August. Instead they play the Cardinals, a team that can never be taken for granted, in 13 of their final 35 divisional games.
And just to be more dramatic, while the Reds are closing out the season with three games against the Pirates, the Brewers will be finishing up against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers …. in Los Angeles.
If the Reds are at all close entering that final weekend, it could be an invigorating bi-coastal finish.