Can the Pittsburgh Pirates rise above strong Brewers, Cubs, and Reds to challenge for a long-elusive division crown?
The National League Central was one of just two divisions in the major leagues to have three teams qualify for the postseason last year.
Each of the three NL Central playoff participants seems capable of returning this season. The Milwaukee Brewers have won the division each of the past three seasons, the Chicago Cubs bolstered an already strong lineup by signing third baseman Alex Bregman as a free agent, and the Cincinnati Reds have perhaps the game’s best manager in Terry Francona.
That leaves the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals. It seems unlikely the Cardinals will contend, as they are in the early stages of a rebuild under the new president of baseball operations, Chaim Bloom.
So, what about the Pirates? Can they contend for their first division title since 1992? They haven’t finished as high as third place in the NL Central since 2016.
“The division is going be tough,” Pittsburgh general manager Ben Cherington said. “We see it as a really competitive division. Candidly, saw it that way last year. We didn’t do our jobs well enough to capitalize on that. Believe it’s going be a very competitive division this year.
“The Cardinals are going through a little bit of a reorganization, but there’s still a lot of talent on that team. It’s the Cardinals. You don’t take them lightly. The Brewers and Cubs are the teams that have set the pace at the top of the division. That’s what we’re chasing. The Reds are just incredibly talented and proved that late last year, pushing into the postseason. They have a lot of things going for them.
“It’s a really hard division,” Cherington continued. “We know we’ll have to be at our best.”
The Reds made it to the postseason last season with just an 83-79 record. They held a tiebreaker over the New York Mets to gain the NL’s last wild card.
Two of the top projection models in baseball predict the Pirates to get close to 83 wins this season. FanGraphs has them at 82 and Baseball Prospectus at 80.
“Obviously, we are looking to beat that number,” Cherington said of 83 wins. “We are not going to be satisfied. We are looking past that number; that’s our goal. Again, as I said, it’s a very competitive division.
“We've got to own the things that lead to winning. If you study really good teams, elite teams around the world, whatever sport it is, you notice they don’t talk about winning. They just talk about and focus on the things that lead to winning. That’s (manager Don Kelly’s) mantra. That’s what he is focused on. That’s where his energy is, what leads to winning.”
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