Commish Preview: National League Central

National League Central

2023 Standings:

Milwaukee 95-67

St. Louis 83-79

Chicago 76-86

Pittsburgh 76-86

Cincinnati 73-89

Offseason Review:

After winning 95 games a year ago, the Brewers will feature a revamped rotation that will include Zach Davies, Daniel Lynch and Drew Strotman. On the offensive side, Isaac Paredes comes over in the trade with Detroit to take over at third base. The Cardinals upgraded defensively by trading for Nationals shortstop Miguel Rojas and added some much needed left handed thump to their lineup with an in-division trade with the Brewers bringing Josh Naylor to St. Louis. The team then inked Corey Kluber to a deal late in the offseason that will see him featured in an otherwise young rotation. The Cubs focused on upgrading their bullpen this offseason and brought in Hector Neris, Kyle Crick, Wyatt Short and Blake Weiman to do so. The Pittsburgh Pirates added Frankie Montas to their rotation, but not much else. The young Pirates are arriving and trending upwards. The Reds landed prized free agent Adalberto Mondesi after missing out on Ian Ortiz and brought on veteran catcher Roberto Perez to help with the young Cincinnati pitching staff.

2024 Thoughts:

I think the Brewers are still the class of the division, but the term 'objects in mirror are closer than they appear' applies here. This could easily be a scenario where the Brewers run away with the division, but the rest of the division is so tightly contested that none of the four teams vie for a wildcard spot. Which George Springer and Nolan Gorman are going to show up in St. Louis? The Cardinals will be hard pressed to compete for the division if the 2023 versions of Springer and Gorman are here to stay. It's been well documented that the Pirates have various young talent on the horizon and it looks like we are going to get another early look at some of that talent this year with Ed Howard and Izaac Pacheco on the verge. The questions with Pittsburgh reside in the rotation. They received tremendous contributions from Gerson Garabito and Cionel Perez in 2023, but can they repeat that success? Will Mitch Keller finally take a step forward to become that top of the rotation arm that he has long been touted? The Cubs are still re-tooling their roster after the previous wave of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez moved on. While the roster isn't ready to compete at this point, there are several good building blocks including Nico Hoerner, Brennen Davis and Trevor Larnach. Lastly, we come to our friends in Cincinnati who will once again feature one of the most exciting up the middle combos in Royce Lewis and Vidal Brujan. We are expecting other top prospects Robert Hassell III and Mick Abel to join Cincinnati on a full time basis this season, but I can't help but wonder where the power supply will come from in this lineup after moving on from Mookie Betts.

Final Prediction:

1. Milwaukee Brewers 94-68

2. Pittsburgh Pirates 85-67

3. St. Louis Cardinals 80-82

4. Cincinnati Reds 77-85

5. Chicago Cubs 67-95

*All thoughts and predictions are for entertainment purposes only. Please do not take things personally and I would love to be proven wrong by each GM.