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For NL Central, These Are the Best of Times
As you may have noticed, the top three teams in the NL Central, the Cubs (48-29, .623), Cards (45-33, .577), and Brewers (43-34, .558), also currently have the three best records in the National League. Who'da thunk?
Here is how the Big 3 rank against the rest of the NL in various categories.
First, hitting:
| R |
HR | AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
OPS |
SB |
K* |
BB |
|
| Cubs |
1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
1 |
9 | 6 |
2 |
| Cards | 5 | 10 | 3 |
2 | 6 |
4 | 12 | 15 | 1 |
| Brewers | 8 | 3 | 12 | 10 |
4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 11 |
*Ranked in descending order of striketouts, i.e., Cards have the second fewest batting strikeouts in NL.
Gotta love where the Cubs sit in OBP, and, it goes without saying, runs scored. It's so un-Cublike.
Next, pitching ("S/ERA" is starters' ERA, "R/ERA" is relievers' ERA, QS is Quality Starts):
| ERA |
S/ERA |
R/ERA |
BAA |
OPS |
QS |
K/BB |
WHIP |
|
| Cubs | 1 | 1 |
4 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
5 | 2 |
| Cards | 6 | 3 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 5 |
10 | 6 |
| Brewers | 7 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 3 |
12 | 9 |
Interestingly, the Cubs are just fourth overall in the NL in strikeouts, a category they have dominated in recent years.
And here, a few fielding numbers (Fielding Percentage, Caught Stealing Percentage, Defensive Efficiency Ratio):
| F PCT |
CS PCT |
DER | |
| Cubs |
12 | 5 | 3 |
| Cards | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Brewers | 9 | 2 | 5 |
One last quick note (lunch hour is over): In games decided by three or more runs—an area which I think receives far too little notice especially versus the team's record in one-run games, which are often decided on a single play or two, maybe even a chance bad bounce—the Brewers are 19-21, the Cards are 23-16, and the Cubs are 27-8.
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