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player ready...The National League Central has reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes. It has some of the majors’ most promising rookies in Sal Stewart, Konnor Griffin and JJ Wetherholt. It has young stars such as Elly De La Cruz and older ones such as Christian Yelich.
Maybe this strong start from all five teams isn’t that big a surprise after all.
“It’s a really good division,” Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman said. “Obviously good pitching, good offenses, and all the teams have gotten off to a good start. So we know that we’ve got our work cut out for us in this division.”
Heading into Tuesday, the NL Central was the only division in baseball in which every team had a winning record. It’s the second-latest date in a season that every NL Central team has been over .500, according to Sportradar, trailing May 29, 2004, when the division had six teams and each was 23-22 or better.
The NL Central and NL West each had a composite record of 80-61 through Monday, followed by the AL East at 73-69. The NL East (64-79), AL Central (66-79) and AL West (66-80) all had losing records as a division.
It’s impressive territory for the NL Central, which had four teams among MLB’s 12 smallest payrolls on opening day.
“There are good athletes in the NL Central. The style of play is interesting,” St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “You see how collectively they play the game and where their record’s at right now.”
Powered by De La Cruz and Stewart, the Cincinnati Reds led the way with an 18-10 record entering Tuesday. The Cubs were 1½ games back, followed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in third at 16-13. The Cardinals were 15-13, and the Milwaukee Brewers were last at 14-13.
The Brewers won the division in 2025 for the third consecutive year. The Cubs and Reds also made the playoffs as wild cards.
“We had three teams in the playoffs last year. We were the only division in the National League to have three,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “In previous years, we’ve never had respect. … The (division) has been very good and last year was evidence. This year is not surprising.”
The Cubs signed Bregman to a five-year, $175 million contract in free agency, and the Reds and Pirates also made significant offseason additions. But the Central also has benefited from the arrival of a group of promising young hitters.
Stewart, 22, led the majors through Monday with 29 RBIs in 28 games for the Reds. Moisés Ballesteros, 22, was batting .387 in 25 games for the Cubs. The Cardinals’ Wetherholt, 23, had connected for a solo homer in each of his last three games.
Griffin, who signed a nine-year, $140 million contract with the Pirates on April 8, is showing signs of shaking off his slow start. He hit his first career homer on his 20th birthday Friday.
“A ton of young talent in the division, and I feel like that’s really exciting,” Bregman said.
The Central also has been helped by a patient approach at the plate.
The Cubs led the NL with 130 walks through Monday, followed by the Brewers at 126 and the Reds at 119. The Pirates were fifth with 110 walks, and the Cardinals had 103.
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“It’s about trying to put together quality at-bats, and those are leading to walks,” Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell said. “It’s part of our identity, putting together quality at-bats.”
It remains to be seen how the standings will shake out once the NL Central starts seeing more of each other. The Cardinals played their first division game Monday night, when they rallied for a 4-2 victory in Pittsburgh. The Reds, Cubs and Brewers have played just three division games apiece.
“It’s a lot of really good teams,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “When you look at the way we got three teams into the playoffs last year and the way we’ve started out this year with all five teams playing good baseball, it’s been a lot of fun.
“It’s cool to see the division be so strong. There’s going to be a lot of really good games.”
AP freelance reporters Rich Rovito and Santos Perez contributed.