NL Central Discussion 2026

[HarryDoyle]

I don't think Toronto will be returning to the World Series this year.

[wiguy94]

Pirates down 4-3 in the 9th at Coors and put up a NOBLETIGER. That's brutal

[wallus]

It stands for:

No Out, Bases Loaded, Ending with Team Incapable of Getting Every Run

You're welcome...

[wiguy94]

5 minutes ago, wallus said:

It stands for:

No Out, Bases Loaded, Ending with Team Incapable of Getting Every Run

You're welcome...

E is Easy I'm pretty sure but yeah 

[willie key]

Why don’t cardinals play today 

[wiguy94]

3 hours ago, willie key said:

Why don’t cardinals play today 

I believe the series is Thursday, Friday, Sunday because there’s a WC game in KC tonight and the parks are right next to each other? 

[willie key]

49 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

I believe the series is Thursday, Friday, Sunday because there’s a WC game in KC tonight and the parks are right next to each other? 

Ok.   That makes sense

[owbc]

10 minutes ago, willie key said:

Ok.   That makes sense

Seattle originally had a scheduled doubleheader this weekend but after yesterday’s WC game got announced as a noon start they moved it to Friday night. 

[wiguy94]

Pirates load up the bases again tonight in the 9th down by 1 in Coors. This time with 1 out. They don't get a run across and lose. The game ended on an interference call on a grounder to 3B. 

[markedman5]

 

[igor67]

Cards lose, 6 game lead.

[markedman5]

 

[sveumrules]

Getting pretty close to the halfway point here and there are a few different ways one could slice up the season based on how things have played out thus far.

Unsustainably fun 8 W - 2 L start, followed by the immediate regression of the 5 W - 11 L stretch dropping them back to .500 after 26 games, now in the midst of an MLB best 35 W - 16 L run since then.

One I thought was interesting was after 33 games thru May 3rd with neither Chourio nor Vaughn plus limited Yelich they averaged 5.21 R/G (4th) despite a below average 95 wRC+ (21st).

Over the 44 games since May 4th with Chourio and Vaughn back in the fold the Brewers have averaged 5.20 R/G (3rd) in a much more earned fashion with a 111 wRC+ (4th) over that stretch.

Also thought it was interesting how streaky the Brewers have been (in a good way). So far they have had streaks of W3 (x7), W4 (x4), W5, L6, L4, and L3 for a record of 42 W - 13 L (.764 W%) when streaking versus 6 W - 16 L in their other games.

Those 55 games streaking represents 71.4% of the schedule so far.

I think we'd all agree last year's Brewers team was streakier than average, mostly in a good way also.

By my count they were at L4 (x2), L3 (x6), W3 (x8), W4 (x3), W8, W11, and W14 for 95 of their 162 games streaking (58.6%) with a record of 69 W - 26 L (.726 W%) when streaking versus 28 W - 36 L in their other games.

[Bulldogboy]

I'm amazed that cb bucknor has quietly been sidelined by mlb now that abs has taken hold. He left a game in Milwaukee and hasn't been seen since. Don't miss him but it's clear they didn't want him to become a story.

[Roderick]

5 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

I'm amazed that cb bucknor has quietly been sidelined by mlb now that abs has taken hold. He left a game in Milwaukee and hasn't been seen since. Don't miss him but it's clear they didn't want him to become a story.

I kind of assumed this was Bucknor's way of retiring quietly.  With the union, if he really wanted to ump they could force MLB to use him (I assume).

[formerlybis]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

Getting pretty close to the halfway point here and there are a few different ways one could slice up the season based on how things have played out thus far.

Unsustainably fun 8 W - 2 L start, followed by the immediate regression of the 5 W - 11 L stretch dropping them back to .500 after 26 games, now in the midst of an MLB best 35 W - 16 L run since then.

One I thought was interesting was after 33 games thru May 3rd with neither Chourio nor Vaughn plus limited Yelich they averaged 5.21 R/G (4th) despite a below average 95 wRC+ (21st).

Over the 44 games since May 4th with Chourio and Vaughn back in the fold the Brewers have averaged 5.20 R/G (3rd) in a much more earned fashion with a 111 wRC+ (4th) over that stretch.

Also thought it was interesting how streaky the Brewers have been (in a good way). So far they have had streaks of W3 (x7), W4 (x4), W5, L6, L4, and L3 for a record of 42 W - 13 L (.764 W%) when streaking versus 6 W - 16 L in their other games.

Those 55 games streaking represents 71.4% of the schedule so far.

I think we'd all agree last year's Brewers team was streakier than average, mostly in a good way also.

By my count they were at L4 (x2), L3 (x6), W3 (x8), W4 (x3), W8, W11, and W14 for 95 of their 162 games streaking (58.6%) with a record of 69 W - 26 L (.726 W%) when streaking versus 28 W - 36 L in their other games.

Current records against NL Central teams (Brewers scheduled for 16 more games - including today - with division foes up to the ASB):

MKE 10-3

STL 12-8

CHI 8-9

PIT 13-10

CIN 2-15 (YIKES)

 

[titanrick]

1 hour ago, Bulldogboy said:

I'm amazed that cb bucknor has quietly been sidelined by mlb now that abs has taken hold. He left a game in Milwaukee and hasn't been seen since. Don't miss him but it's clear they didn't want him to become a story.

Didn't he take a Miz fastball off the mask?  He hasn't been back since? 😶

I will forever cherish the memory of that Rays game where CB announced that Bauers missed first base, the replay shows he hits it dead center, and then Kevin Cash and Murph start uncontrollably laughing with each other from opposing dugouts.  High comedy there.

[Underachiever]

7 minutes ago, titanrick said:

Didn't he take a Miz fastball off the mask?  He hasn't been back since? 😶

I will forever cherish the memory of that Rays game where CB announced that Bauers missed first base, the replay shows he hits it dead center, and then Kevin Cash and Murph start uncontrollably laughing with each other from opposing dugouts.  High comedy there.

This is the play in question. I mean, part of Bauers' heel obviously missed the bag...

 

[igor67]

Solidly John Madden territory, he needed to get that one knee down to equal 2 feet

[titanrick]

And for those who didn't see it live, they froze the replay at the moment Bauers hits the base and from the angle, you can see CB in the background.  He is looking in a different direction, following the errant throw.  So he said Bauers missed the base, Bauers clearly hit the center of the base, and he wasn't even looking to check if he hit the base.

I think Levering was in the booth for that game. When they pause the replay, you can tell he's searching for words to describe the situation, but doesn't want to say anything too harsh.  I think he said something like, "And ... long pause ... oh my, he's not even looking at the base when Bauers hits it" following by more awkward silence.

Just an unbelievable call.  Wouldn't surprise me if MLB decided he would be done after that incident.

[Jopal78]

Cubs placed both Cabrera and Ben Brown on IL. Giving them a whopping six starting pitchers on the IL: Steele, Horton, Taillon, Boyd, Cabrera and Brown. (Though Boyd expected to be activated tomorrow).

It’s amazing the Cubs have their head above water when they’re pressing their 8th, 9th, etc. best SPs into service