Is Another NL Central Championship in the Cards?

Is Another NL Central Championship in the Cards?

By CincyRedsFan30

Strike3forums.com

Status quo. More of the same.

Nothing describes the way the NL Central division has gone so far this year more than that.

In a division full of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, the Cardinals have the hitting, they have the pitching and they most certainly have a fairly comfy early season lead in the National League Central division.

There is nothing new about that though. The Cardinals have won the NL Central division in four of the last five years. To other NL Central teams, they have almost become the Yankees. They are the team to beat. The only difference is they don’t have an owner that spends at will like George Steinbrenner.

They spend the money they do have on the right players though. GM Walt Jocketty has done an incredible job over the last couple of years of piecing together a rotation, which had been considered the one thing that was holding the team back from a potential World Series Championship. After just missing the playoffs last year, Jocketty struck baseball Gold during the offseason by adding ace Mark Mulder to the team’s starting rotation. After a shaky early start, Mulder has been good, posting an ERA of 2.70, to go along with a 1.08 WHIP, a .235 opponent’s batting average against, and a strikeout to walk ratio of nearly 3:1. Throw in Jason Marquis (3.26 ERA) and Chris Carpenter (4.02 ERA) and you’ve got the foundation to a strong rotation.

Many of the players in their everyday starting lineup have become household names and consistently let the statistics do the talking for them: Albert Pujols (who some believe has the potential to break baseball’s all-time HR record), Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds (who is also known for his dramatic over-the-shoulder catches) lead the charge offensively, along with Larry Walker.

Things aren’t nearly as rosy for the other teams in the division:

You have the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have been a bottom feeder for over 10 years, after having such storied years in the earlier days of the franchise. They have a lot of talented pitching on their staff, with Oliver Perez and Kip Wells leading the charge. Unfortunately for them, those two have struggled for most of the season so far, and while Mark Redman, Dave Williams and Josh Fogg can be serviceable bottom of the rotation guys, they are going to need Perez and Wells to step things up if they want to compete in the division. Oh, and you have their biggest problem of all, which is their lineup, which is still questionable, despite the addition of Matt Lawton. Sure it has last year’s NL Rookie of the Year in Jason Bay, but they are going to need to add some bats in Pittsburgh if they want to compete annually in the coming years.

Then you get to the Milwaukee Brewers. What can you say about the poor, hapless Brewers? Sure they are in 2nd place in the division right now, but with Victor Santos and Doug Davis helping leading the charge on the pitching front (despite having Ben Sheets at the top of the rotation when healthy); it is unlikely that they will be able to hang around. Their lineup has the underrated and dangerous Lyle Overbay (.337/.480/1.122), but there are still a lot of holes in it. If the Brewers ever want to become a respectable franchise, they are going to have to start developing their own players. They have done a better job of that lately, so hopefully for Brewers fans, good news is right around the corner.

Of course there is then the old and worn down Houston Astros, (managed by the often confusing Phil Garner, known for his odd starting lineups where leadoff hitters bat eighth and eighth hitters leadoff). The Killer B’s have lost some of their string due to injury concerns, although the careers of Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio have been very admirable. The team blew their chance at winning the World Series last year when they still had Carlos Beltran. The team still has great starting pitching with Hall of Famer Roger Clemens leading the charge, along with Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt, to go with lights-out closer in Brad Lidge. The lineup is so bad though that Clemens (despite his microscopic 1.10(!) ERA, 0.96(!) WHIP and 9.18 K/9 IP ratio) has recorded only two wins in seven starts, despite pitching shutout baseball in four of his seven starts. The lineup is bad, and the team is rebuilding. Houston, we have a problem.

The Chicago Cubs. The loveable losers. What more is there left to be said about the franchise that is known more for their futility than anything else? The team has a great starting rotation, anchored by Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano, but Kerry Wood appears to be collapsing, Greg Maddux’ strike zone given to him by umpires continues to get smaller and smaller as he gets one year older(how old is he now, fifty?) and their fifth spot is a mess. The team has hit well for most of the year, led by Derrek Lee (.383/.476/1.209), but their heavy reliance on hitting Home Runs is bound to hurt them as the year goes on. The bullpen is so bad it almost receives as many ‘booooos’ as Steve Bartman did when he played into the Billy Goat’s latest scheme to continue cursing the poor Cubbies. Although hope has continued to spring eternal over the last few years in the Windy City, that hope is quickly dying away as the year of the team’s last World Championship gets closer and closer to being a Century in the past.

Last, but certainly not least is the Cincinnati Reds. Baseball’s first franchise. The Big Red Machine. Five World Championships. A proud and storied tradition. The only team that celebrates Opening Day with a parade through downtown that causes everything to shut down. An obsession with and free pass given to Pete Rose that is inexplicable considering the city’s overall contempt for anyone who lies and cheats. Oh yeah, the baseball team has pretty much stunk for about 10 years now. Sure, they had a near-miss with the playoffs in 1999, and a couple of other exciting seasons during that time, but the front office, led by Scrooge reincarnate Carl Lindner, hasn’t shown much of a desire to field a winning team, despite ousting former GM Jim Bowden (who was known for his off-the-field antics as much for his big trades and inability to draft good starting pitching). New GM Dan O’Brien is as exciting as John Kerry, and even Mr. Kerry should be offended by hearing that. He has also shown a propensity to favor veterans who don’t produce over young talent (Rich Aurilia being the biggest example). The team still has plenty of offense with Adam Dunn (considered among the favorites to break baseball’s HR record and with numbers this year of (.264/.426/.1.087). The starting pitching is the team’s big problem. Paul Wilson has been awful and might be injured, Eric Milton is on a record-breaking pace in allowing HR (on pace to give up 70(!) on the year) and although Aaron Harang has been very good, the rest of the rotation has questions for sure. The bullpen has also been poor thus far, with “Closer” Danny Graves leading the charge with is non-closer-like stuff. If this team wants to return to the Glory Days, the team must add and develop talented starting pitching.

Ultimately for this year though, if the Cardinals keep playing like they have so far, they will have the fans of the other teams in the division saying “wait ‘till next year” (again) by the time we hit the Dog Days of Summer. That’s the sad but true tale in a division that clearly distinguishes how a team should be run, versus how a team shouldn’t be run. Until something changes, that will likely continue being the case for the next several years.