Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the Yankees’ top American League opponents are up to through the Rivalry Roundup . The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but with the end of the month upon us, we’re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who’s surprising? Who’s underwhelming? Who’s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out what’s going on in the NL Central.
(Note: Records and standings are up to date through games
played on Sunday, May 31st)
First Place: Milwaukee Brewers (35-21)
Top Position Player: Brice Turang (2.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Jacob Misiorowski (3.0 fWAR)
When we did our End-of-April check-in, the Brewers sat fourth in the NL Central with a record only slightly above .500. Over the last month, they caught fire, going 19-7 in May and vaulting to the division lead, with a couple games to spare.
As we saw when the Yankees played them during that hot stretch, Milwaukee has been led by young ace Jacob Misiorowski, who gets more ridiculous by the game. He allowed just one earned run in all of May, putting his ERA for the month at 0.23. He hasn’t been the losing pitcher of record since April 19th.
Even more remarkable about what Misiorowski and the rest of the Brewers’ pitching staff has done is that their offense averaged just 4.1 runs per game during May, and the team still managed to put up one of the best months around the sport.
Second Place: St. Louis Cardinals (31-26, 4.5 GB)
Top Position Player: JJ Wetherholt (2.5 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Dustin May (1.1 fWAR)
Not a lot of people would’ve necessarily picked the Cardinals to be good and in the playoff picture like they currently are. (They would be the second NL Wild Card if the season ended today.) They’ve managed to get off to this good start largely on the back of their emerging young talent. Rookie JJ Wetherholt is arguably the current leader for NL Rookie of the Year, posting a 123 wRC+ with defense that also grades out extremely well. Jordan Walker is starting to put the pieces together after a couple years in the majors. Iván Herrera is a pretty legit hitter.
The biggest concern for the Cardinals will probably be their rotation. Michael McGreevy is their only current regular starter who has a better than average ERA. None of their regular starters have an ERA over five, but they’ll certainly hope the rest of their rotation can tighten things up a bit so they don’t have to overexpose their bullpen down the stretch.
Tied-Third Place: Chicago Cubs (32-28, 5 GB)
Top Position Player: Pete Crow-Armstrong (2.4 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Ben Brown (1.6 fWAR)
On May 8th, the Cubs beat the Rangers to extend their ongoing win streak to 10 games, while maintaining a 3.5-game lead in the division. Since that day, they’ve gone 5-16 and are now five games back in the Central. In general, the Cubs have been quite the streaky team this year. They’ve had two separate 10-game winning streaks and also have had a 10-game losing one.
Largely, their offense has not been the problem, as they only have one regular starter — Dansby Swanson — who is a below average hitter. Their main issue is that their rotation is a bit of a mess. Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera, and Matthew Boyd are all currently on the injured list, and even before that Cabrera was only OK and Boyd was just kinda bad. They recently called up former first-round draft pick Jordan Wicks, and he’s managed to put up -0.5 rWAR in just two starts. This Cubs’ team is the dictionary definition of one that will probably look to trade for a starter.
Tied-Third Place: Pittsburgh Pirates (32-28, 5 GB)
Top Position Player: Brandon Lowe (2.3 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Braxton Ashcraft (2.0 fWAR)
Whereas the Cubs will be disappointed to be at 32-28 at this stage of the season, the Pirates will be happy with the season so far.
While he’s still quite excellent(2.89 ERA, 1.9 fWAR), the Pirates are no longer just the Paul Skenes Show. Braxton Ashcraft has been very good in the rotation himself, and there are a couple other young starters with potential around, even if they have middling results this season. They also just got Jared Jones back from the IL, an intriguing young arm prior to his Tommy John surgery.
Pittsburgh’s call-up of the top prospect in baseball, Konnor Griffin, made some headlines earlier this season, and he’s been pretty good himself, although is currently on the IL. However around him, they’ve gotten some very impressive seasons at the plate, including a potential breakout campaign from Oneil Cruz, who has a 120 wRC+.
Last Place: Cincinnati Reds (30-28, 6 GB)
Top Position Player: Elly De La Cruz (2.7 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Chase Burns (1.6 fWAR)
Through April, the Reds were the pleasant surprise package of the NL Central, as they say atop the standings.
However, as mentioned then, that record came in part due to their success in one-run games. Well, the chickens have come home to roost a bit in that department. After being 7-0 in one-run games through April, the Reds are now 9-6 in them. They lost eight games to start May, including three in a row via walk-off against the Cubs.
They still have Elly De La Cruz being awesome, and Sal Stewart will be another in the NL ROTY running. In the rotation, Chase Burns is very impressive. But you really had to squint to see how they led the division through April, and now their record makes a bit more sense.
