NL Central Standings Predictions

[sveumrules]

MLBTR has a "who will win the NL Central?" poll up & over 5,000 votes in it is at 31% Brewers, 29% Cardinals, 26% Cubs.

[gregmag]

Brewers 91

Cardinals 90

Cubs 89

Pirates 80

Reds 77

[gebc1997]

Brewers 93

Cardinals 89

Cubs 87

Pirates 82

Reds 78

[coolhandluke121]

Cubs - 92

Brewers - 89

Cardinals - 83

Pirates - 74

Reds - 72

 

The NL has even more parity and depth than last year, and the East arguably improved even more than the Central. There are few easy games, and records are going to converge towards .500 a lot. Only Miami is truly worthy of a last-place finish in a normal division and a normal year. The Giants and Diamondbacks are arguably the next worst teams, which is crazy to me. The NL may once again not have any gaudy records like the AL, but it's gonna be a gauntlet.

 

I expect some regression from Yelich and Cain as well as the starting staff, but mostly this is just a reflection of the difficult schedule in the NL. I think 89 wins gets a wild card game this year.

[Klements Bratwurst]

Brewers 91

Cards 89

Cubs 84

Reds 78

Pirates 75

[brooks_quichenick]

Brewers 93

Cubs 91

Cards 86

Pirates 77

Reds 71

[Tbadder]

Wow. Glad to see some of you guys are completely unimpressed with the Reds additions. I thought they were pretty awful. I just didn’t have the guts to go with my instincts. I really hope theyre Under .500. I do feel sorry for Puig though. I think the fan base is gonna eat him up.

[TURBO]

Wow. Glad to see some of you guys are completely unimpressed with the Reds additions. I thought they were pretty awful. I just didn’t have the guts to go with my instincts. I really hope theyre Under .500. I do feel sorry for Puig though. I think the fan base is gonna eat him up.

 

Why do you feel sorry for Puig?

 

If he is good, the fans will embrace him, just like all other fans in MLB.

[Dead Simmons]

Wow. Glad to see some of you guys are completely unimpressed with the Reds additions. I thought they were pretty awful. I just didn’t have the guts to go with my instincts. I really hope theyre Under .500. I do feel sorry for Puig though. I think the fan base is gonna eat him up.

 

Why do you feel sorry for Puig?

If he is good, the fans will embrace him, just like all other fans in MLB.

Because nobody can be good all the time, and Puig's childish behavior grates on fans after a while. He refuses to keep his tongue in his head, admires long drives that don't go out and makes sure that all his gold is visible at all times and is basically a loud mouthed idiot. I'm sure a Dodger fan could list much more.

 

 

Cards 92

Brewers 88

Cubs 84

Reds 78

Pirates 75

[KeithStone53151]

I guess I'm in the minority as one that thinks the Reds are going to be very very good this year. I previously predicted the Reds ahead of the Cubs and am sticking to that. The Reds were a very good offensive team last year, and I think DJ could be a very positive influence on some very talented arms the Reds have. I'm also expecting Puig to finish in the top 10 of MVP voting, I feel like the whole contract year thing is going to make him focus and be much better than he was with the Dodgers.

[MrTPlush]

Wow. Glad to see some of you guys are completely unimpressed with the Reds additions. I thought they were pretty awful. I just didn’t have the guts to go with my instincts. I really hope theyre Under .500. I do feel sorry for Puig though. I think the fan base is gonna eat him up.

 

Why do you feel sorry for Puig?

If he is good, the fans will embrace him, just like all other fans in MLB.

Because nobody can be good all the time, and Puig's childish behavior grates on fans after a while. He refuses to keep his tongue in his head, admires long drives that don't go out and makes sure that all his gold is visible at all times and is basically a loud mouthed idiot. I'm sure a Dodger fan could list much more.

 

 

Brewers 100

Cubs 88

Reds 82

Pirates 81

Cards 57

 

Fixed

[stalton]

Cubs 89

Brewers 89

Cards 88

P Rats 81

Reds 77

[BrewFan130]

I don’t think the Reds are a team to be taken lightly. They lost a ton of games last year by only 1 run. We're not talking about a team that was getting blown out and I think their additions are difference makers.

 

The 1 guy I’m not going to miss the Brewers matching up against is Billy Hamilton. His career stats are far from impressive, but his numbers against the Brewers are far better and his speed regularly cost the Brewers runs.

[Ennder]

I don’t think the Reds are a team to be taken lightly. They lost a ton of games last year by only 1 run. We're not talking about a team that was getting blown out and I think their additions are difference makers.

 

The 1 guy I’m not going to miss the Brewers matching up against is Billy Hamilton. His career stats are far from impressive, but his numbers against the Brewers are far better and his speed regularly cost the Brewers runs.

 

I think the Reds are being grossly overrated. They added very little of value and maybe the biggest addition they have is by subtraction of finally getting Hamilton off of the team. The guys they did add are blocking guys who are probably better than them. Kemp and Puig are going to steal AB from Winker and Senzel who are probably better players. Roark and Gray are probably close to replacement level pitchers. The one big addition they made was Alex Wood.

 

Edit: I mean it is plausible they are a .500 team now and that does make the division tougher. What I posted is a bit more harsh than I meant it to be. I just don't think they are going to be fighting for a playoff spot or anything like that.

[trwi7]

I don’t think the Reds are a team to be taken lightly. They lost a ton of games last year by only 1 run. We're not talking about a team that was getting blown out and I think their additions are difference makers.

 

The 1 guy I’m not going to miss the Brewers matching up against is Billy Hamilton. His career stats are far from impressive, but his numbers against the Brewers are far better and his speed regularly cost the Brewers runs.

 

I think the Reds are being grossly overrated. They added very little of value and maybe the biggest addition they have is by subtraction of finally getting Hamilton off of the team. The guys they did add are blocking guys who are probably better than them. Kemp and Puig are going to steal AB from Winker and Senzel who are probably better players. Roark and Gray are probably replacement level pitchers. The one big addition they made was Alex Wood.

 

And their bullpen is still hot garbage so even if their acquired starters and offense manage to get them the lead, the bullpen will still blow plenty of them and their outfield defense got a ton worse.

[KeithStone53151]

Iglesias, Hughes, Romano, Garrett, Duke, Lorenzen...all decent or better options in the bullpen. It isn't a bullpen like ours, but in reality what other team has a bullpen like ours? Maybe 1 or 2 others? And it's a massive stretch to say Winker is better than Puig, and Senzel is coming back from injury and is on roughly the same timeline as Hiura for MLB impact. Plus, Senzel will probably play CF, not a corner.

 

A lot of my projection of the Reds being an upper 80s win team involves DJ helping their staff quite a bit. They have a few seriously talented pitchers on that roster that simply haven't posted results to this point. If that doesn't happen, they probably top out around 81 or 82 wins barring a deadline firesale...which would knock them lower.

[WV Brew]

By run differential last year the Brewers should have won 92 games, the Cubs 94, Cards 89, Pirates 81, Reds 68. Cards have made the most improvements in my opinion.

 

Cards 98

Cubs 92

Brewers 88

Pirates 83

Reds 70

[clancyphile]

The Reds have arguably pulled off a decent rebuild - even with getting Kemp, Puig, et al. It gives them a chance to make a run, but those contracts will come off the books, and that's a reasonably exciting team to put on the field as the young players develop a bit more. Do I think they fixed their pitching with DJ? Short-term, somewhat, they arguably hurt the Brewers more with that signing. Much of their improvement will be against the Cubs (who are on a downward trajectory), and a little against the Cardinals.

 

But as I predicted, they are about a .500 or so team. The Brewers will take the division with the Moose and Grandal additions strengthening 2B and C.

[Eye Black]

Thanks to the more than 30 participants in the NL Central standings predictions for 2019!

 

Here are the crowdsourced BF.net predictions based on the averages of all win total submissions:

 

Brewers - 91 wins (actual avg was 90.8)

 

Cardinals - 89 wins (actual avg was 89.2)

 

Cubs - 87 wins (actual avg was 87.2)

 

Reds - 80 wins

 

Pirates - 76 wins

[82brewcrew82]

It'll be interesting. I think the top three teams could finish in any one of the top three spots. I can see the Reds and Pirates as high as third. I think St. Luis is being over-rated and the Cubs are being under-rated.

[Ennder]

By run differential last year the Brewers should have won 92 games, the Cubs 94, Cards 89, Pirates 81, Reds 68. Cards have made the most improvements in my opinion.

 

Cards 98

Cubs 92

Brewers 88

Pirates 83

Reds 70

 

 

Feels odd to me, I think the Cardinals are likely 3rd in the division for improvements. They got Goldschmidt who made them lose value all over the place moving guys to positions that aren't good for them and then did almost nothing else. The Reds and Brewers easily did more.

[RollieTime]

Just bumping this thread for discussions about how everybody’s predictions have turned out

[MrTPlush]

Brewers 100

Cardinals 89

Cubs 84

Reds 80

Pirates 73

 

One of these days that Cubs pitching staff is going to take a big step backwards due to older guys disappointing and their record will reflect that.

 

I think this Brewers team is just as good as last year...and I think there will be big win-now mentality at the deadline if we look good. Big moves will be made. We will win 100 games. Maybe a little fandom, but I think they could field a 100 win team. We also have yet to trade any of that pitching we have. Serious starting rotation depth (and experienced) will play big when we have injuries.

 

I may nail the standings (we hope).