The Great Battle

[Mr. Baseball]

The Great Battle for the NL Central

http://images.onset.freedom.com/ocregister/article/lirwbh-b78773791z.120110328075816000g7ru94fj.1.jpg

This is the Official Thread to discuss the race for the NL Central

Contender #1:The great redbirds of St. Louis have been by far the dominant presence in the Central since the dawn of the 21st century. The Cardinals have celebrated SEVEN NL Central titles since 2000, including a wild-card birth in 2001. Offensively, they are led by Dominican-born superstar Albert Pujols, MVP-caliber outfielder Matt Holliday, and former Astros star Lance Berkman. Together, they make one of the most devastating lineups in all of baseball. They are the elite three.

Contender #2: From the land of the cheese, and the home of the cows, the Milwaukee Brewers will look to secure their first division title since moving from the American League in 1998. Doug Melvin has transformed what was previously regarded as one of the worst rotations in baseball into a devastating trio of three aces; Zach Greinke, Yovani Gallardo, and Shaun Marcum. Offensively, the Crew are led by former Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun, and the great slugger PRINCE Fielder.


Contender #3: The defending NL Central champs, the Cincinnati Reds, will look to secure they're second straight division title behind last season's MVP-award winner Joey Votto, and Texas-born outfielder Jay Bruce. However, so far this season, the Reds have faced some serious pitching concerns. What was once a great starting-rotation, is now statistically among the worst in all of baseball.

Contender #4:The urine colored and not-so-ferocious Pittsburgh Pirates will look to end they're long string of losing seasons by coming up over .500 this year. While they aren't a serious contender, they do have some solid pitching, and a lot of great prospects on the rise in the minor leagues.


As for the Cubs? Nobody cares...;)

[Baseballnum3er0]

I like how you include a picture of a non-contender and don't even mention the poor Astros. They aren't gone yet!

Right now though the great battle is awfully cold with no team being over .500 in their last 10 as of today. Seems as if all four of the contenders are blowing a good shot to take a few steps ahead right now.

[Mudge]

This division seems always to be up for grabs (except of course for Pittsburgh in recent years, but not necessarily 2011). I was interested in how competitiveness matched up with salaries, and lo and behold, it's kind of interesting. At 125 million payroll, we all know that the Cubs overspend. Naturally, the Pirates underspend (45 million), but the other four clubs -- the ones that always seem to be truly in the hunt -- are bunched together at 11th place overall (St. Louis -- 105 million), the 17th (Milwaukee -- 85 million), 19th (Cincinnati -- 76 million), and the 20th Houston (71 million).

[JoshRedcay]

I'm so surprised that we are only 3.5 games behind, and it would be really nice to get out of the 10 inning game right now with the Indians and get back over .500 at 36-35.

[Scoobean]

Still think the Brewers have the total package to go down the stretch and win this.

[Mr. Baseball]

I just noticed I said "look to secure" three times in this thread. :ugh1:

Here are some results from the NL Central last night.

Milwaukee 3 Boston 12
Pittsburgh 2 Cleveland 5
Toronto 1 Cinncinati 2
Kansas City 4 St. Louis 5
New York Yankees 10 Chicago 4
Houston 0 Los Angeles Dodgers 1

Current NL Central Standings:
1st: Milwaukee 40-33
2nd: St. Louis 40-33
3rd: Cinncinati 38-35
4th: Pittsburgh 35-36
5th: Chicago 29-42
6th: Houston 27-46

[Mr. Baseball]

The Brewers came back from a 7-0 deficit tonight to avoid the sweep in Minnesota. Hope about that! Nyjer Morgan was a single short of the cycle aswell, and Ryan Braun extended his hitting streak to 22 games.

[Vertigo O]

The Pretenders are hanging in there at 2 1/2 back despite losing 2 of 3 to the Nats.

Those 2 games were tough losses too and they let tonight's nightcap slip right through Fryer's fingers. Would have made things very interesting had they found a way to win those games.

But alas, so goes the game of baseball. They have a great chance for a series split tomorrow before heading into the All-Star break with a of couple series at home vs the Astros and Cubs.

If the Astros and Cubs play like the Astros and Cubs ( :) ), I think the Buccos have a shot at getting a nice streak going into the break and building some confidence/excitement for the 2nd half.

[Mr. Baseball]

With the Brewers and Cardinals in a slump, the Atlanta Braves are beginning to take a pretty sizable lead in the NL Wild Card race. A division title may be the only way in for teams looking to compete in the postseason.

[Mudge]

With the Brewers and Cardinals in a slump, the Atlanta Braves are beginning to take a pretty sizable lead in the NL Wild Card race. A division title may be the only way in for teams looking to compete in the postseason.
I noticed that too in a study I was doing at SBT about team values, where I was comparing team salaries to how far out they are from the wild card (as you can imagine the Cubs and the Mets do not fare well in this ranking).

In looking at it all, I noticed that the Braves are already 4 up in the WC over St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Arizona. I was surprised. I'm with you, the division battle may well be the only battle here. And while it is a great battle, these teams are not proving very strong against decent competition (the Brewers went 2-7 vs. the AL East top three teams).

[Vertigo O]

Losses from the top 2 teams, wins from pitt and cincy ... the NL central waters got a bit murkier today.

2 games now separate 1-4 I think?

[Mudge]

Is it parity or mediocrity?

Maybe they are two sides of the same coin.

[KILLADELFIA]

Don't sleep on the Buccos!

Raise the jolly roger!

[Mr. Baseball]

Yesterday couldn't have played out any better for the Brewers. With Pittsburgh and St. Louis both losing, Milwaukee was able to move back into second place (1 game back of St. Louis).

Lower the Jolly roger! ;)

[Mudge]

The Great Battle may well be an appropriate title for this thread (sort of like The Great War was the appropriate title for WWI). Just as in The Great War, there seems to be a lot of fighting -- plenty of casualties -- and virtually no movement.

It's trench warfare for sure.

[Mudge]

The Great Battle may be waning.

As of today (Tuesday, August 2) the Milwaukee Brewers are on a seven-game win streak, the most recent victory being one over the second-place Cardinals. They lifted their record against divisional opponents to 27-17, and they are a major league best 40-14 at home in Miller Park.

The Brewers now have a 3.5 game lead over the Cardinals. The Pirates are 5.5 back, and the Reds are drifting out of the picture, 7.5 games off the pace.

Braun and Fielder continue to lead the way on offense (.980 & .964 OPS respectively), and the Crew are getting it done without Rickie Weeks right now and without a lot of offensive punch from the bottom of the order. Frankly, Corey Hart looks better leading off than he does anywhere else in the order (.917 OPS since replacing Weeks at the #1 spot), and Nyjer Morgan continues to play well.

The pitching has been very solid. Marcum leads the rotation (.644 OPSA), with the rest of the starter bunched up together: Gallardo (.710), Narveson (.724), Wolf (.728), Greinke (.736).

Francisco Rodriguez (.498) and John Axford (.585) look to be as formidable a late-inning combination as there is in the league.

Yes, Gallardo has been erratic, McGehee has been a disappointment, and the defense is suspect, but the Brewers may just now be taking control of what was (and quite possibly will be again) the most hotly-contested -- at least as far as numbers of contestants is concerned -- divisional race in baseball.

[Mudge]

I have no idea where all the Brewers fans went -- Baseball Nation used to have a whole slew of them -- but for the rest of you who are still with us, take a look:

Thanks largely to a consistently solid, but unspectacular, set of starters (the five -- Gallardo, Greinke, Marcum, Wolf, and Narveson combine for a NL best 76 quality starts), the Brewers now possess the second best record in the NL (tied with Atlanta at 74-52, 22 games over .500) and the fourth best record in MLB (Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox in that order).

Hand it to the Brewers and the Braves though for doing it with roughly half the payroll of the big three (in millions of dollars):

NYY: 203
PHI: 173
BOS: 162

ATL: 87
MIL: 85

With all the press going to Gallardo, Greinke and Marcum, flying under the radar has been the performance of Randy Wolf. Wolf leads the Brewers in Quality Starts (17), ERA (3.30), and he is second to Yovanni Gallardo in innings pitched (162 and 161 respectively).

The way the playoffs are set up, however, will likely result in Wolf's relegation to the pen.

p.s. I know Buccos13 and JoshRedcay are legit, but for the rest of you bandwagon Pirate fans: http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-taunt010.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

[astrosfanatic]

(the five -- Gallardo, Greinke, Marcum, Wolf, and Narveson combine for a NL best 76 quality starts)

wow, that's a surprising stat. And Wolf doesnt surprise me in the least. When the Astros acquired him from the Padres 4 years back he was a stud down the stretch for us, and might have helped us to the playoffs if Dud Selig hadnt punished us for having Hurricane Ike hit the city. I like his game a lot. Plus, he is a really, really nice guy.

With the way things are setting up now, i will be rooting for the Phillies in the Playoffs (since they are our parent-organization) and the Brewers are a close second. I want the Brewers to finish right where they are b/c that would mean a first round playoff match-up with the Braves. Then hopefully a NLCS of the Phillies-Brewers would be fun to watch

[Vertigo O]

p.s. I know Buccos13 and JoshRedcay are legit, but for the rest of you bandwagon Pirate fans: http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-taunt010.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

Hey, I take offense to that. I can't help that it's a lot less interesting to take the time to type out thoughts on a forum after they've fallen 10 games or so back. So .... http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-taunt010.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

So you can take your bandwagon accusations and shove it ... :)

I've endured 30+ years of losing baseball between the Pirates and Orioles combined.

[Mudge]

Hey, I take offense to that. I can't help that it's a lot less interesting to take the time to type out thoughts on a forum after they've fallen 10 games or so back. So .... http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-taunt010.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

So you can take your bandwagon accusations and shove it ... :)

I've endured 30+ years of losing baseball between the Pirates and Orioles combined.

Doubtful then that you are what we'd call a bandwagon fan -- I just had the Orioles stashed away as your only team. My apologies.

That now said, my original observation stands.:wink1: