Sportsrageous

The first half of the Major League Baseball season has seen the Pittsburgh Pirates take the division lead, the four-ace rotation of the Philadelphia Phillies dominate opposing hitters and the American League East continue to be baseball’s best division.  In the next few days, we’ll look at how each division stacks up to others and what contenders in each division need to do to reach this year’s Fall Classic.

Today we’ll look at the NL Central.

Contenders: Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Cincinnati Reds.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Easily the biggest surprise of 2011, the Pirates, under new manager Clint Hurdle, have taken baseball by storm and currently sit in a three-way tie for first place in the division.  After 18 consecutive losing seasons, including last season’s 57-105 record, no one expected the Pirates to be in contention this late into the season.  But Hurdle has them playing the team’s best baseball in 20 years and they’re doing it with pitching.

The Pirates’ ERA of 3.42 ranks fifth in the NL, though in nearly every other major statistical category both offensively and pitching-wise, they rank near the bottom of the Majors.  Jeff Karstens has been a pleasant surprise, along the lines of San Francisco’s Ryan Vogelsong, pitching well to the tune of a 2.28 ERA and an 8-5 record.  It will take quite a bit for the Pirates to stay at the top of the NL Central with teams like the Reds and Cardinals hot on their heels, but for the first time in a long time, the Pirates will be buyers at the trade deadline and are in contention for a playoff spot with only about 60 games left.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals have flip-flopped this year in terms of their strengths.  The team ranks first in the league in offense but only eighth in team ERA.  Last year the Cardinals were one of the better pitching teams in the NL, but, due to Tommy John surgery, top starter Adam Wainwright has not pitched this season and former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter has had an off season by his standards.

Due to the resurgence of Lance Berkman, the Cardinals’ offense has been the most potent in the NL and one of the most potent in all of baseball.  The strength of their offense makes them buyers for pitching at the deadline, specifically bullpen help, according to MLBTradeRumors.com.  The Cardinals are in the mix for San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell and remain in talks with the White Sox about their pitching, but St. Louis hasn’t emerged as a favorite to land any of the top names.

Despite not having their ace and possibly not adding anyone at the trade deadline, the Cardinals remain one of the favorites to win the NL Central as they have superior fire power and good pitching (team ERA of 3.85).  If they add a bullpen arm at the deadline, the Cardinals could be considered the clear-cut favorites to win the division.

Milwaukee Brewers

The signing of Zach Greinke hasn’t quite worked out for the Brewers, though they find themselves only half a game back in the Central.  Greinke’s 4.84 ERA is almost a run more than his career ERA but the fact that the Brewers are in the hunt without Greinke contributing as positively as they expected has to make them feel good going forward.  And if Greinke can find his stuff again, the Brewers could be in for a big upgrade.

The Brewers were the first team to make a major trade before the deadline dealing for Mets closer Francisco Rodriquez to help shore up their bullpen.  In addition to Rodriquez, the Brewers have been named in relation to a number of other targets, most recently Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda.  With an offense that sports Ryan Braun and All-Stars Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks, if the Brewers can acquire some pitching at the deadline they’ll be able to stay competitive in the NL Central.

Cincinnati Reds

Reigning NL-MVP Joey Votto leads the Reds offense which ranks second in the NL in runs scored, however their team ERA of 4.04 is fourth lowest in the league which puts them two games under .500 and four games back in the log-jammed Central.  Starting pitcher Mike Leake leads the team with a 4.03 ERA which is why the Reds have been mentioned in numerous trade rumors involving pitchers.

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, the Reds are very interested in Colorado Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez and San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell.  It’s still a long shot for the Reds to win the Central and, with two other teams ahead of them in their own division, it seems unlikely they can even make the wild card.  But with close to 60 games left in the season, anything is possible.