Cubs ground rival Cardinals, lower magic number

Hendricks was in control in beating the Cards on Saturday

The Chicago Cubs downed their historic arch-rival Saint Louis Cardinals by a 4-1 score on Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

With the victory, the Cubbies lowered their 'Magic Number' to clinch their second consecutive NL Central Division crown to 10 over the Cards, and to 11 over the second place Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers were dumped by the host Marlins down in Miami by a 7-4 score. Combined with a huge 16-0 destruction of the San Diego Padres by the Colorado Rockies, the Brewers now trail the Rockies by 3.5 games, and the Cardinals trail Colorado by 4.5 in the race for the final NL Wildcard berth.

The Cubs fifth straight win was made possible largely thanks to a brilliant outing from starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks. The 27-year old righty allowed just six hits over 7.2 innings, striking out five and walking just one.

Albert Almora singled home the game's first run in the bottom of the 4th, then doubled home another in the home 5th inning that made it a 3-0 game.

After Matt Carpenter's solo homer put the Cards on the board in the top of the 8th, Addison Russell responded with one of his own in the bottom of the frame to provide the final margin of victory.

Pirates ready to see the real Tyler Glasnow

Glasnow ready for his second chance in 2017

It might seem as though Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Tyler Glasnow has been around in the prospect game for a long time. In fact, he has indeed.

He has steadily climbed the MLB Pipeline pre-season rankings. Prior to the 2014 season he was ranked as the 27th overall prospect. In 2015, he moved up to #12, then to #10 in 2016. Finally, prior to this season, Glasnow was ranked as the #9 overall prospect in the game.

For the last three years, Glasnow has been a Top 25 prospect in the rankings as presented by both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.

Selected by Pittsburgh with their 5th round choice in the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft out of a California high school, Glasnow turned 24 years old just three weeks ago.

He was called up for his first taste of life in the big leagues in July of 2016. Then in September, Glasnow re-joined the Bucs to finish the season.

Overall in 2016 he appeared in seven games, making four starts. He allowed 22 hits over 23.1 innings while striking out 24 and walking 13 batters. The right-hander threw just 59% of his pitches for strikes.

While it was a largely inauspicious beginning, it was a beginning. Most prospects struggle during their first go-around in Major League Baseball. Glasnow had at least gotten his feet wet. It was hoped the experience would serve him well entering 2017, when he was expected to fill a rotation spot with the Pirates.

Cincinnati Reds collapse could cost manager his job

Reds skipper Bryan Price will find his job on the line 

The 2017 Major League Baseball season began well for the Cincinnati Reds. The club got off to a hot start, winning seven of their first nine games.

As late as May 17, the Reds were still in first place in the National League Central Division standings. At that point, the club had a 17-14 record.

Beginning on April 30, the club would win nine of 11 games to reach a high-water mark on the season of four games over the .500 mark.

After a month-long period of struggles, the Reds record had fallen into the red. But then Cincinnati went on a four-game winning streak in early June. The quick spurt got the club back within a game of the break-even mark.

It all began to go wrong for the Reds when they left for a west coast swing out to Los Angeles and San Diego beginning on June 9. Scoring just 20 runs on the trip, Cincinnati lost all six games to the Dodgers and Padres.

That west coast shutout was the start of a nine-game losing streak. The Reds have never recovered. Since leaving for that trip, Cincy has collapsed with a 12-30 record.

The Reds are now in last place in the division, buried 13.5 games out. They’re even further back, 17 games, in the NL Wildcard race.

Cincinnati is tied for 18th in MLB in runs scored heading into Saturday action. The pitching staff is 24th in Batting Average Against. Those statistical positions have been on the decline, propped up by the performances of the first two months.

MLB Spotlight Series: Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers

NL Central lead at stake as Cubs visit Brewers

The most competitive division race in the 2017 MLB regular season thus far is taking place in the National League Central Division.

After appearing to sleepwalk through much of the first half, the defending champion Chicago Cubs are on top once again. However, three teams are within just 4.5 games of the lead.

This weekend, the Cubbies travel just about two hours up I-94 to Miller Park in Milwaukee. Waiting for them will be the NL Central’s second place team, the host Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers actually led the division for much of the season. The Brew Crew jumped into first place on May 17, and until this past Wednesday had spent just two days out of the top spot ever since.

The Cubs, meanwhile, were suffering from a serious World Series victory hangover. By the end of May they were two games under .500 and sitting in third place. As late as July 9, the Cubs were still those same two games below the break-even mark.

However, something clicked for Chicago coming out of the MLB All-Star Game break. The Cubs have won 11 of 13 games since taking those four days off. Conversely, Milwaukee has lost nine of their last 11 contests.

Headed into the weekend, the Cubs hold a 1.5 game lead on the second place Brewers in the division standings. That lead is three games in the loss column. There is no doubt that this series in front of their home crowd is of vital importance to manager Craig Counsell and his ball club.

Milwaukee needs to get back on track, and fast. This is a perfect opportunity to let the Cubs know that they intend to stay in the race for the long haul.

For the Cubs, it’s a chance to stay hot and begin to put Milwaukee further back in the rear view mirror. The champs are looking to make a statement: we’re back, and now we’re going to pull away.

Will the suddenly hot Pittsburgh Pirates be trade deadline buyers or sellers?

Pirates could contend with Cutch, or deal him

On Monday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied from behind for a 4-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

With that win, the Bucs drew to within three games of the .500 mark on the season. 

They also pulled within six games in the NL Central standings of the first place Brew Crew, and within eight of the second NL Wildcard spot.

The Pirates are suddenly hot, winners now in eight of their last 10 games. They are also about to get star left fielder Starling Marte back in the lineup. He has missed the first 80 games of the season due to a PED suspension. As the MLB trade deadline approaches, they appear to be a team on the bubble.

It’s difficult to get a read on exactly where the Pirates are right now, as far as their overall organizational status and ability to contend. Are they buyers or sellers here in July? That is the decision GM Neal Huntingdon and the rest of management will need to make in the coming weeks.

After earning an National League Wildcard playoff spot for three straight years, Pittsburgh regressed last season. The Pirates finished five games below the .500 mark in 2016, and were 8.5 games out of that Wildcard position.

NL Central has MLB's tightest divisional race

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and the MLB divisional races are just beginning to take shape. Perhaps surprisingly, the most competitive race to this point has been in the National League Central Division.

The NL Central is home to the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs. The North Siders were expected by many to run away with the division, much as they did a year ago. The Cubs finished 17.5 games ahead of their nearest divisional rival last year.

But thus far, Chicago appears to be suffering from a Fall Classic hangover. The Cubs are just 25-23 after being shutout by the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. This drops them into the middle of the divisional pack, albeit only a half-game off the lead.

That surprising new NL Central leader this morning would be the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brew Crew has not finished on top of the division since the 2011 season.

Brewers pitcher Chase Anderson is now the hunter

Anderson has gone from being the hunted to the hunter in Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Brewers haven’t fielded a winning team since the 2014 season. It has been six years since the 2011 Brew Crew won 96 games and the NL Central Division crown. That was the most recent contending seasons for the club.

Thus far in the 2017 season, the Brewers are off to a .500 start at 16-16. They are still hanging around in the division race, a game and a half out of first place as we move through the second week of May.

Much of the credit for the Brewers’ more competitive start has rightly gone to surprising slugger Eric Thames. The first baseman signed as a free agent this past offseason after four years away from Major League Baseball, the last three of those playing in Korea.

Thames has given Milwaukee an offensive threat to team with Ryan Braun, the likes of which haven’t been seen on the banks of Lake Michigan since Prince Fielder left following that 2011 campaign.

But as any baseball fan knows, you can have all the hitting in the world, and your team will not win if it cannot compete on the mound.

Starting Pitching Has Cardinals Flying High Again

Lance Lynn and his rotation mates leading Cardinals comeback

The Saint Louis Cardinals are the most historically successful franchise in the history of the National League. 

That success is not just ancient history. The Cards have dominated the NL Central Division for more than a decade.

The Cardinals have won more World Series titles (11), and more National League pennants (19) than any other NL team.

In this century alone, the Cards have tacked on nine division crowns, four pennants, and a pair of World Series titles to those totals.

But the 2017 season did not begin in typical fashion for Saint Louis. The team struggled out to a 3-9 start over the season’s first two weeks.

However, if opponents were hoping to take advantage of some down period for the Cardinals, that was the time to catch them. It has all turned around, and the Cardinals are now winning with consistency once again.

Saint Louis has now won 10 of their last 14 games. Following their most recent win on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cards are back to the .500 mark at 13-13. They sit just 1.5 games behind the division-leading and arch-rival Chicago Cubs.

Too Soon to Count Out Slow-Starting Cardinals

The Saint Louis Cardinals, perennial National League contenders, are off to an uncharacteristically slow start this season. 

The team is currently sitting at the bottom of the overall National League standings with a 4-9 record.

Saint Louis has won an NL-record 11 World Series championships. In addition, the franchise has won 19 National League pennants. 

The club has captured 13 division crowns, including 10 in the NL Central, and has been an NL Wildcard playoff team on three occasions.

In recent years, Saint Louis has finished in either first or second place in the NL Central for eight straight seasons. They won the division four times in that span, reached the Fall Classic twice, and won the 2011 World Series.

While the longtime arch-rival Chicago Cubs ran away with the division a year ago, finishing 17.5 games in front of the Cards, that was more a reflection on the Cubbies dominant year.

The Cardinals went a solid 86-76 in the 2016 season, and fell just one game shy of both the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants in the race for another postseason berth.

Champion Cubs May Have Next Young Star in Albert Almora

The Chicago Cubs ended the more than 70-year old “Curse of the Billy Goat” by powering their way to a 2016 World Series championship.

A group of talented and youthful position players were keys in making that title possible. 

There were a pair of 26-year old players serving as virtual senior citizens in first baseman Anthony Rizzo and right fielder Jason Heyward.

In left field, 24-year old Jorge Soler and 26-year old Matt Szczur saw a lot of playing time. 23-year old Javier Baez was a super-utility guy, playing all over the diamond. The shortstop was 22-year old Addison Russell.

23-year old Willson Contreras largely took over the catching duties by the second half. Another 23-year old, Kyle Schwarber, missed the entire regular season due to injuries. But he returned in time to influence the postseason.

The featured player was 24-year old third baseman Kris Bryant. All he did was take home the NL Most Valuable Player award after winning NL Rookie of the Year the previous season.

On June 7, a rookie outfielder made his debut. Albert Almora would stay with the team through mid-July, then return in September. He made enough of a positive impression that he was kept on the postseason roster by manager Joe Maddon.

Lewis Brinson Knocking on the Door in Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Brewers finished 16 games below the .500 mark in the 2016 season. That record left them a distant 30.5 games behind the NL Central champion Chicago Cubs.

Even the National League Wildcard spots were nowhere in sight. The Brewers were 14 games behind the playoff slots. It was a third losing campaign in the last four seasons for the Brew Crew.

While the Brewers have not been contenders for a while and don’t figure to contend in the coming 2017 season, there is hope for the future.

The Milwaukee farm system was ranked 6th by Keith Law in his most recent MLB organizational rankings back in January. The organization came in 8th at Baseball America in their rankings released three weeks ago.

In his evaluation, Law highlighted two primary reasons for the Brewers high organizational ranking: strong recent drafts and good returns in trades.

“The Brewers’ rebuild has been overshadowed by the presence of three contenders in the division, but they’ve done a good job restocking the system in the last 18 months with two strong draft classes and huge returns on trades of veterans.” ~ Keith Law

Cole and Taillon are Keys to Pirates Contending in 2017

The Pittsburgh Pirates reached the MLB postseason in three straight seasons from 2013-15. But last year the club finished five games below the .500 mark in third place in the NL Central Division.

There were any number of factors that contributed to the downfall of the Bucs a year ago. But despite missing the playoffs and finishing with a losing record, a bounce-back is possible in the coming 2017 season.

Catching the young and multi-talented Chicago Cubs in the division race is probably not within reach this year. But winning the division is not the only route to the postseason.

Pittsburgh finished just 8.5 games in back of an NL Wildcard berth, even though nearly everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

“I think he’s going through an absolute metamorphosis in terms of his physical understanding, how to really manage his body over the course of a 162-game season, what the greatest red flags are for him that could sideline him or take him down,” said Ben Fairchild, the owner of Fairchild Sports Performance near Taillon’s hometown of Houston, Texas per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Bill Brink.

“I don’t know that I’ve seen a pitcher of his prospectus at his young age that had endured so much severe injury, frankly,” Fairchild said.

For the Pittsburgh Pirates, No News is Bad News

For the Pittsburgh Pirates and their passionate fan base, the 2016 season was one of extreme disappointment. After three consecutive playoff appearances, the beloved Bucs missed the postseason party.

The Pirates struggled to a record of 78-83 last season, good only for third place in the National League Central Division.

In each of the prior three years, Pittsburgh came in second place, with the team repeatedly falling just short of a division crown. The club finished within two games in 2014 and 2015 after falling three games short in 2013.

In 2016, the Bucs fell 7.5 games short of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals. But that was not their biggest concern heading into the offseason. Pittsburgh also finished a distant 25 games behind the eventual World Series champion Chicago Cubs in the division race.

Cardinals Don't Have to Catch the Cubs to Contend

Over the two full decades from 1996 through 2015, the St. Louis Cardinals dominated the National League Central Division. 

The Cards captured the division crown in half of those seasons. They experienced just three losing seasons in that stretch, none since 2007.

That domination was even more profound in recent years. St. Louis won the division in three straight seasons from 2013-15.

It hasn’t only been regular season success for the Cardinals. They reached the NLCS 10 times over those 20 years, and the World Series four times. 

Their victories in the 2011 and 2013 Fall Classics raised the organization total to a National League-record 11 World Series championships.

Would Pirates Actually Deal Andrew McCutchen?

It was a rough season for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2016. After three straight playoff seasons, the Bucs fell to 79-83 and third place in the NL Central Division.

A six-game winning streak at the end of April lifted Pittsburgh to 15-9, just three games out of first place. 

They would never be that far over the .500 mark, or that close to the division lead again.

In examining what went wrong this season in the Steel City, you find a number of factors came in to play. The starting pitching rotation suffered through injuries and ineffectiveness. The club got little production out of either the catcher or first base positions.

But another key element in the Pirates’ struggles this past season was a noticeable decline from center fielder Andrew McCutchen.

2016 Winter Meetings: Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers finished at 73-89 and in fourth place in the NL Central Division this season. That left the club 30.5 games behind the first place Chicago Cubs, a team they finished nine games in front of just two years ago.

As we prepare for the opening of baseball’s Winter Meetings in just one week, the Brewers could well be one of the big players in any horse trading.

One of the main reasons: left fielder Ryan Braun is actively on the trade block. The 33-year old Braun may be the most proven and prolific bat available in a deal.

Reports are that Milwaukee general manager David Stearns was very close to a deal to send Braun to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a couple of occasions last season.

“I get asked about it regularly,” Stearns said recently per ESPN through the AP. “…that’s a big story this offseason, but I’m very happy that Ryan is a member of the Milwaukee Brewers…expect him to be a member of the Milwaukee Brewers going forward.”

The Dodgers are one of six teams to whom the 33-year old slugger cannot block a trade. The Miami Marlins, near where Braun played his college ball, are another. Also on the list are a number of teams near his home: the Angels, Padres, Dbacks, and Giants.

Cubs 2016 POY: Kris Bryant

In 2016, the Chicago Cubs finally shed the ‘Curse of the Billy Goat’, winning the World Series for the first time since the 1908 season.

The team also had a number of individual players take home various pieces of hardware, ranging from the National League Most Valuable Player to multiple Gold Glove Award winners.

In the regular season, the North Siders were on top of the NL Central Division race for all but one day in early April.

They opened up a double-digit lead by early June, and by early August would never see a division rival get closer than a dozen games.

They would win 103 games, more than any Cubs team since the 1910 season. The club would also win the organization’s first NL Central crown since 2008 by a huge 17.5 game margin.

Entering the postseason as the clear World Series favorites, the Cubs were challenged at each step, and would meet each challenge.

Reds 2016 POY: Joey Votto

For the Cincinnati Reds organization and their fans, the 2016 season was a third straight losing campaign of frustration.

The Reds were a playoff club in three of the four years between 2010 and 2013. 

The team twice won the NL Central crown, in both 2010 and 2012. They were never able to advance past the NLDS, however.

Their best showing came in 2012, when the Reds held a 2-0 lead in games on the San Francisco Giants, only to drop Game Three by a 2-1 score in 10 innings. The Giants then swept the next two as well en route to their second World Series title in three years.

A second straight last place finish now has the Reds general manager and SVP Dick Williams, the grandson and nephew of previous owners of the team, looking for the right mix to get the club back to contending status.

“I’d like to think we left the most difficult part behind us,” Williams said after the season per Cincinnati.com’s C. Trent Rosecrans. 

“The first half of this year when we were really at our most thin in terms of depth. I’d like to think we’re on the upswing and it certainly felt like it in the second half. I hope that we’ll continue that momentum in the beginning of next year.”

The Reds have a middle-of-the-road farm system. But a handful of prospects at the top could get to Cincy soon and make an impact.

Brewers 2016 POY: Ryan Braun

It was a fifth consecutive year out of contention for the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2016 season. 

The club and its fans suffered through a second straight losing campaign.

It was also the second year in a row in which they finished more than 30 games back of the division leaders. 

The fourth place finish marked a seventh time in the last eight years that they finished no higher than third place.

The Brewers won the NL Central crown in the 2011 season. But that is an oasis in a veritable desert of failure. It marks the organization’s only division title in the last three and a half decades.

In their updated MLB organization rankings back in August, Bleacher Report rated the Brewers farm system as the second best in baseball.

While there may be some help coming from below, most of the better prospects are between 20-22 years of age. That help may not come for another couple of years.

Pirates 2016 POY: Starling Marte

The Pittsburgh Pirates were an NL Wild Card team for three consecutive seasons from 2013-15. 

But the 2016 campaign was a step back, with the club finishing 78-83 in third place in the NL Central Division, a distant 25 games behind the Chicago Cubs.

It was a disappointing 20-game drop for the Bucs from their 98-win season in 2015. 

Now a team that finished within three games of the division crown in each of the last three seasons is looking like it has a way to go before it can get back to that level.

Manager Clint Hurdle just wrapped up his sixth season at the helm. He has a 509-462 record as the Pirates skipper, with three winning and three losing campaigns. 

General manager Neal Huntington and his team have their work cut out for them as they try to provide Hurdle the extra pieces it will take to again catch up with the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in the division.