But again, for me it all begs the question of what those simulations are based on. For example, how do they weight recent performance relative to the overall performance to date.
If you just take a snapshot of the current standings you see the Reds 1 game ahead of the Brewers. But how do you factor in that the Reds, who added McLean in May, and DeLaCruz and Votto in June have gained 9 games in the last 6 weeks or so on the Brewers, who have been treading water since their quick start in April?
The Fangraphs projection is that the Brewers will continue to tread water while the Reds will cool considerably from their pace of the last month, with their offense cooling off and their pitching getting worse than it’s been. They have the Reds finishing 32-39, which would be a pretty dramatic comedown from their last month.
My old fashioned gut reaction is that the NL Central is going to be a two team race and that at this point it looks to me like a tossup. That might change in the next 2 weeks as the Brewers play the Reds, Braves, and Phillies exclusively in their next 15 games.