who will win the NL Central in 2025

the boring answer is the cubs, and if they fail, the brewers. the correct answer is, of course, the st louis cardinals, and i’m voting for them

Reds could shock us I guess but yeah Cubs on paper. That Kyle Tucker trade still confuses me tbh

i'm def feeling more confident about the cubs this season than last season, they made some good additions this offseason. the tucker deal is weird but obv he'll help a lot this season and maybe they can extend him?
i haven't kept up with the brewers off-season moves but i'm guessing them and the reds will be the other contenders in the division this season. i was way overoptimistic on the reds last season but maybe terry francona can figure out what to do with all their young players.
i know the pirates didn't do much this offseason. did the cards do anything other than lose goldschmidt and be weird about trading arenado?

last i heard, the cardinals had literally signed no one. tbf to them, however, it’s arenado who is blocking trades — he says he’ll only uproot his family to go to a top contender (apparently for him the astros fell out of that group when they traded tucker), and none of the top contenders seem interested

brewers until they don't

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Whats the most entertaining division to watch this year? NL central gotta be up there right? Vry keen for Dodgers Cubs next week

i'm def feeling more confident about the cubs this season than last season, they made some good additions this offseason. the tucker deal is weird but obv he'll help a lot this season and maybe they can extend him?
i haven't kept up with the brewers off-season moves but i'm guessing them and the reds will be the other contenders in the division this season. i was way overoptimistic on the reds last season but maybe terry francona can figure out what to do with all their young players.
i know the pirates didn't do much this offseason. did the cards do anything other than lose goldschmidt and be weird about trading arenado?

― na (NA), Monday, 3 March 2025 18:58 (one week ago) link

what the fuck was going on with me when i wrote this post? had i just picked up a pallet of "season"s from costco?

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Reds could be much better as they had such a crazy list of injuries last year including half their lineup and pretty much their entire rotation getting hurt. I got to think Terry Francona is not going to put up with some of the dumb baserunning and bad defense that has also plagued them at times. I think that alone might get them 10 extra wins.

Eh...I've been kinda cold on baseball in general since Covid. Everytime I try to watch a game any teams it seems to be so fugly to watch anymore. That and social media has made so many players unlikable, I kinda don't muc care anymore, which says something as I have followed baseball since I was a little kid. I mostly just watch box scores.

I got to think Terry Francona is not going to put up with some of the dumb baserunning and bad defense that has also plagued them at times. I think that alone might get them 10 extra wins.

i like tito but you cannot be serious

what is the record for being walked-off in a season

because the pirates are already 2-for-3

...

smdh

Defense did him no favors but he has to at least lose his job at this point?

Kyle Hendricks has a record of 14-4 with an ERA of 2.51 and 118 strikeouts in 28 appearances against the Cardinals in his career.

(mentioning because cards are playing the angels this weekend and it looks like the old nemesis hendricks is on the mound for them, oof)

since July 1, 2024, Hunter Greene has a 1.00 ERA (2.46 FIP)

jeez, walt jocketty died! he was 74.

https://i.imgur.com/4VyXB2W.png

forget the cubs. remember the pirates, but forget them for the purposes of this post. of the three .500 teams in the middle, where do you think they’ll be by the all-star break?

i know it’s early, i don’t know about “advanced stats”, i can only tell you this - some guy named pozo is playing catcher. the cardinals are defeating last place teams with authority. i guarantee a world series victory, 2025, this year. magic is in the air. as long as they keep playing bad teams, and we can only pray and pull together as a nation because it’s time to heal together around the idea of the cardinals winning a lot again.

cubs have cooled off a little in the past couple of weeks. on one hand, some regression seemed inevitable - their best pitchers are hurt and some of their hitters seemed to be on untenable hot streaks. on the other hand, they've mostly been playing the padres, the dodgers, the diamondbacks, the phillies, the giants, and the mets in april and the first half of may. the rest of may, they're playing the marlins twice, the white sox, the rockies, and the reds, so presumably things will improve.

STL quietly approaching scorching HOT status. They missed their opportunity to win 10 in a row by narrowly losing the matinee but came back in the twilight game to take 10 of their last 11.

this is correct, i would say that many are calling them “the team of destiny”, and “can’t miss, like wander franco” levels of hubris are building up

PCA is so so good

feels like the cubs rotation problems might finally be starting to catch up with them. still 14 games over .500 but STL and the brewers aren't far behind them. they're getting imanaga back this week but it still feels like they need to trade for a starter (and maybe a 3B) by the deadline. but are there any good starters available? alcantara doesn't seem like a great option at this point.

i feel like on the cubs, PCA and kyle tucker and even seiya suzuki get all the hype, but michael busch quietly has 18 HRs, is batting .293 and has a .939 OPS. i know they were platooning him part of the season but it seems like he's been playing pretty regularly lately.

big brewers-cubs series kicks off tonight with the teams tied for the NL central lead. boyd v. misiorowski, rea v. priester, imanaga v. peralta

bring it on Craig Counsell

would love for the cubs to trade for some starting pitching like in the next couple of hours

five games between the brewers and the cubs (at wrigley) over the next four days

Would be a sweet series if PCA & Tucker & Suzuki were hitting above .100 for the past 30 days.

Apparently Tucker was boo'd by the Wrigley faithful for failing to run out a grounder?

He's been absolute hot garbage since the ASB.

1 in a row baby

Craig Counsell: "Kyle Tucker could get multiple days off."

Booing fans suck

Oh good, collective macho negative energy that’s sanctioned and even encouraged!

i imagine booing fans submerged in a bath of hot piss