2018 Season Preview: NL CENTRAL
I’ll give you the who, what, when, where, and why’s with predictions coming when I finish with the divisions. Not so long ago, this was a horrible divison. 84 wins got you into the playoffs at one point. Those days are gone.
Chicago Cubs: The roster that Theo Epstein has constructed in a few short years is a thing of beauty. It should be marveled and studied. The roster along with masterful manager Joe Maddon under the Epstein regime is a collection that all other teams are envious of. This is virtually the same roster that ended their 108 year title drought in 2016. They’ve added a few more prospects to an already potent lineup and swapped out Jake Arrieta for Yu Darvish. If the Cubs end their season before the NLCS, it would be considered a failure.
Cincinnati Reds: Other than the venerable Joey Votto, there isn’t much to like about this team. They’ve become bottom dwellers with no real plan to escape. I spotted you Joey Votto but if you could name another 2 to 3 players on the Reds roster, you should win a prize. Good luck, Reds fans.
Milwaukee Brewers: The Brew crew surprised a great number of pundits by competing for the division and wild card last year. During the off season, the organization took that momentum and ran with it signing Lorenzo Cain to a good deal and trading for Christian Yelich. Domingo Santana cemented his spot in right, pushing Ryan “roid” Braun to first. The lineup and bullpen are solid but the rotation could use some work. After Davies, Anderson and Chacin in a 3 game set, the anchors of the rotation, Gallardo and Miley, could become albatrosses. Look for a few in season trades to sure up the rotation to compete.
Pittsburg Pirates: The Buccos are a team that could raise the Jolly Roger quite a bit this year. That’s if, of course, you knew what they actually intend to do. The Pirates do have a formidable lineup with good defense and a descent pipeline for prospects but the yearly cost cutting the team does doesn’t scream contender as they traded away their staff ace and long time face of the franchise Andrew McCutchen. Few managers can to do more with less like Clint Hurdle can but even he has his limits. Will this team go full fire sale or compete for the wild card? Time will tell.
St Louis Cardinals: After the Ozuna trade rounded out their lineup over the offseason, the average cards fans could expect the team to compete for the wild card. While their lineup and bullpen will keep them in games and let me know if you’ve heard this before but they team will only go as far as their rotation will allow them. The rotation vastly under performed last year now they’ve lost Lance Lynn and Adam Wainwright is now fully in his twilight years at age 36 coming off a 5+ ERA season. The Cards will do their best to battle the Brew crew for second best in the division.
Great post! As a life-long Cubs fan, this season should be fun. Aside from the Reds, each team is pretty decent. Obviously the Cubs are favored, but with the off-season pickups, I'm excited to see the Brewers. It's always nice when they play the Cubs. Actually, it's more exciting when the Cubs play the Cardinals, since there's some rivalry there.
Excited to see the Cubs play, but just about this division in general.
Another solid write up!
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback! More to come! :)
Buccos will be lucky to win 80 games this year, the rotation is what could be their downfall, that and the fact that they won't have much depth and scoring runs could be another issue. But they did lead the grapefruit league in home runs, so we shall see. #PiratesBaseball
Great post! Lifelong Brewers fan, and man last year was def exciting and ahead of schedule. After the off-season moves hoping to push the Cubbies and at the very least snag one of the Wild Card spots. I agree that they will probably need to make some moves to shore up the backend of the rotation.
Im ready for the season!
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Good review but I have to almost completely disagree with your analysis on the Pirates. Too optimistic. I am a long time Pirates fan and live in Pittsburgh. They do not have a pipeline of prospects on the way, they are hear and some even left. The original build was we would "contend" when the likes of McCutchen, Cole, Marte, Polanco, Taillon, Bell, and Glasnow were up. Once we could get all those guys up it would be our time to make a run at it. Well guess what, those prospects are either here or gone. For a team that is "rebuilding" they have a total of 2 top 100 prospects according to MLB.com http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2018. That might be acceptable if you major league team was not rebuilding but for a rebuilding team, unacceptable. It's the same story new chapter, ownership (Nutting family) runs it purely like a business, otherwise they would have made some sort of move after those crazy 90+ win seasons. Nope, they just faulted and sold away. Ticket sales will decline this year, just as they did last year. Give it 5 years, when the estimated monetary value of the team starts declining, Nutting will sell. It's a shame fans that finally were brought back to the team after 20 years of pure disappointment are now being driven away again. I just heard on the radio yesterday they are offering BOGO ticket sales and everything they can to get people to the games. Sure, I hope they perform well but that almost just adds fuel to the fire allowing the Nutting's to sell to the fanbase "the plan." I could keep going and going and going. I fully expect them to finish either last or runner up last to the Reds.
Man am I upset about them lol. Thanks for the post and good looks on all the reviews. May not seem like it but I'm excited for the season.