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2025 NL Central Power Rankings: Week 17

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Welcome to the 17th week of our NL Central Power Rankings! We’ll release these rankings each week to grade all five teams and place them one through five. As everyone knows with power rankings, these should be taken as gospel and they’re obviously 100% accurate. Without further ado, let’s rank some teams!

1. Milwaukee Brewers (57-40); 3-0 this week; 93.7% chance to make postseason (Baseball Reference)

The Brewers stretched their win streak to seven games heading into the All-Star break, with sweeps of the Dodgers and Nationals in Milwaukee to bring them to 16 games above .500 heading into the second

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half. They kept that win streak going with a series-opening win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles Friday night.

Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and Caleb Durbin homered for Milwaukee, with Chourio leading the offense with five hits on the week. William Contreras added four hits, Durbin had three hits, and Andrew Vaughn picked up four RBIs via a pair of doubles in Saturday’s comeback win against Washington.

Freddy Peralta made another strong start to close out the first half on Sunday, spanning 6 23 innings with one run allowed and seven strikeouts. Quinn Priester picked up right where Peralta left off, going six scoreless with 10 strikeouts Friday night against the Dodgers. Jared Koenig went 2 23 scoreless innings over three outings, while Trevor Megill picked up the lone save on Friday night.

After finishing up in L.A. on Sunday, Milwaukee will wrap up their road trip in Seattle against the Mariners beginning Monday night.

2. Chicago Cubs (58-39); 3-0 this week; 99.2% chance to make postseason

After hitting a mini-skid last week, the Cubs took the last two games of the first half against the Yankees to maintain their one-game lead over the Brewers in the division. They begin the second half at home against the Red Sox, snapping their 10-game winning streak on Friday afternoon.

Seiya Suzuki led the team with five hits in 13 at-bats this week, including a homer and two doubles as he hit .385/.385/.769. Carson Kelly went 4-for-10 with a homer and a double, and Ian Happ also had four hits on the week.

All three starters (Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, and Colin Rea) turned in solid starts this week, combining for 20 innings with two runs allowed. Boyd was the best of that group, going eight scoreless frames with six strikeouts. Daniel Palencia picked up the save in all three of the wins, totaling 2 23 innings with two strikeouts and just one hit allowed.

Chicago’s homestand includes visits from the Red Sox and Royals, and they’ll then finish the month of July close to home as they’ll face the White Sox and Brewers on the road.

3. St. Louis Cardinals (51-47); 1-2 this week; 29.2% chance to make postseason

The Cardinals finished up an up-and-down first half of the season with a 3-3 homestand against the Nationals and Braves. They’re now out west as they dropped the series opener with the D-backs in Arizona on Friday.

José Fermín, Nolan Gorman, Victor Scott II, and Yohel Pozo all homered for the Cards this week, though Brendan Donovan (four hits) was the lone player with more than three hits this week for St. Louis.

Gordon Graceffo picked up the lone win as he totaled 3 13 innings across two outings, leading the team with six strikeouts. Sonny Gray went just three innings in his start before the break, striking out five and allowing one run. Riley O’Brien, JoJo Romero, and Kyle Leahy also had scoreless bullpen outings.

After their three-game set with Arizona wraps up Sunday, the Cardinals will jump up to Denver to take on the Rockies for three games before heading back to St. Louis.

4. Cincinnati Reds (51-47); 3-0 this week; 22.9% chance to make postseason

The Reds didn’t capitalize on a homestand featuring the Marlins and Rockies to end the first half, finishing those two series at just 4-3. They’re now out east to take on the Mets, where they won the series opener Friday night.

Austin Hays led the team with seven hits this week, including a pair of homers and five RBIs. Matt McLain added six hits, including a homer, and Tyler Stephenson and Elly De La Cruz also had solid weeks despite the small sample size.

There aren’t many downsides in the pitching department this week for Cincy, as Brady Singer’s start was the worst (6 13 innings, three runs allowed), though he still led the team with nine strikeouts. Nick Lodolo went seven frames with two runs allowed, and Nick Martinez went 5 13 innings with two runs allowed, while the bullpen combination of Emilio Pagán, Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft, Scott Barlow, and Sam Moll allowed no runs with eight strikeouts over 8 13 innings.

Cincinnati wraps up their three-game set with New York on Sunday and then wraps up the road trip in the nation’s capital against the Nationals to begin the week.

5. Pittsburgh Pirates (39-59); 1-2 this week; <0.1% chance to make postseason

The Pirates finally snapped their eight-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Twins on Sunday, but they still sit way behind in the division and only ahead of the Rockies and Nationals in the NL Wild Card standings. They’re back home for a nine-game homestand beginning with the White Sox this weekend, though they lost on Friday night in blowout fashion.

Oneil Cruz led the Pirates with four hits in seven at-bats this week, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa added five hits in nine ABs. Bryan Reynolds went 3-for-10 with a pair of doubles, and Tommy Pham and Jack Suwinski both homered in what was another quiet week overall for the Bucs.

Mitch Keller had the only strong start, going six innings and allowing one run on four hits and no walks with three strikeouts in Sunday’s win. Caleb Ferguson, Isaac Mattson, Dennis Santana, and David Bednar each had scoreless weeks out of the bullpen, with Santana picking up the lone win and Bednar getting the save, his 13th of the year.

Pittsburgh’s homestand continues with the White Sox, Tigers, and D-backs all slated to come to town through next weekend.

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