With nearly a month’s worth of games in the books, the National League Central is shaping up to be one of the more interesting races early on this season. With a perennial MLB powerhouse surprisingly underacheiving, and three other teams within two games of the top spot, it seems like anything can happen.
Note: All information is prior to games of Wednesday, April 26
MLB roundup: The National League Central
After cruising through a seven game winning streak, the Pittsburgh Pirates currently hold the top spot in the division at 16-8, a full game ahead of Milwaukee. A pitching staff that, a month ago, appeared to be a collection of former prospects and spare parts has actually thrown the ball very effectively, not allowing more than four runs in a game since the Houston Astros tagged them for seven, way back on April 12. Vince Velasquez has allowed just three earned runs in his last 20 innings pitched, while striking out 23 batters, Mitch Keller is tossing like the Pirates thought he could when they drafted him with a second-round pick nine years ago, and Johan Oviedo had a nice little run of 21 strikeouts across 19.2 frames while surrendering just two earned runs through three starts, before the Dodgers let a little air out his balloon on Tuesday night.
Injuries to Oneil Cruz and Ji Man Choi are going to stress the depth of this team, but the Buccos have had an unusual cast step up and answer the call. Jack Suwinski is hitting .379 with four homers in his last 10 games, Andrew McCutchen and Connor Joe are raking as well, and Carlos Santana, straight up, stole a base a couple of days ago. And it wasn’t a cheapy either. He timed the pitcher and beat the throw to second, for just his third stolen base since 2020. The Pirates are backing up some solid pitching with aggressive base running, and stealing opportunities to win games when they arise.