NL Central parity
- NBC Sports reports every team in the NL Central currently has a winning record heading into late April. (nbcsports.com) - That unusual balance is the Week 4 surprise noted in MLB power rankings coverage. (nbcsports.com) - The result is a likely volatile division race as teams meet in May, since early trends haven't separated clubs. (nbcsports.com)
The National League Central reached late April with all five teams above.500, the only division in Major League Baseball that could say that on April 21. (mlb.com) Through games on Tuesday, April 21, the Cincinnati Reds led at 16-8, followed by the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals at 14-9, the Milwaukee Brewers at 13-9, and the Pittsburgh Pirates at 13-10. (mlb.com) That left 2.5 games separating first from fifth, with four clubs already at 13 wins or more before the calendar reached May. (mlb.com) NBC Sports flagged the division’s balance in its April 21 power rankings, noting that every National League Central club had a winning record as the month neared its end. (nbcsports.com) Major League Baseball’s own rankings made the same point a day earlier: all five National League Central teams were over.500, and four of the five were in the Top 10. (mlb.com) The shape of the race looks different from the division’s recent reputation. MLB.com noted that in 2006 only one National League Central team finished above.500, and that club, the Cardinals, won 83 games. (mlb.com) The recent backdrop is stronger than that older stereotype. The Brewers won the division at 97-65 in 2025, the Cubs finished 92-70, and the Reds grabbed a National League wild card at 83-79. (mlb.com; espn.com) MLB.com calculated the division’s combined record at 66-44 through Monday, a.600 winning percentage, and said no division in the divisional era that began in 1969 has ever finished with every team above.500. (mlb.com) That history is why the next few weeks matter more than the standings table alone. With the Reds, Cubs, Cardinals, Brewers and Pirates still packed within one series of each other, May head-to-head games can reorder the division in a weekend. (mlb.com; nbcsports.com)
