The NL Central is cooking

Every team in the NL Central has a winning record. That sentence sounds like an April mirage — the season is young, the standings lie, just wait. But let’s look at the historical perspective here, and ponder whether the 2026 NL Central could be something special.

The history: No division has ever finished a season with every team above .500. The last time every team in a division even finished at .500 or better was the 2005 NL East. The current worst team in the Central is on pace for 87 wins. In the modern three-wild-card era, no 90-win team has ever missed the playoffs. If things hold, multiple NL Central teams are going to finish with playoff-caliber records and still go home in October.

Cincinnati chili: The Reds are 16-9. They're also dead last in baseball in batting average. Their top two regular starters have ERAs north of five. Hunter Green is still weeks away. And yet Chase Burns is pitching like an ace, Connor Phillips has a 1.93 ERA out of the bullpen, and the Reds somehow keep it close, get the clutch hit, let the pitching close it out. Rookie Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz are the offense — not the stars of the offense, the entire offense — and somehow that's been enough sixteen times this month. Like chili, raw onions, and shredded cheese over noodles, it shouldn’t work but it somehow does.

The other dishes on the table: The Cubs are on a nine-game winning streak, tied with the Reds at 16-9 atop the division. They lead baseball in two-strike quality contact — when they're down in the count, they still put the ball in play. Shota Imanaga, after a rough finish to last year, has been dominant. The Cardinals are 14-10 with a young roster playing loose, and they haven't blown a single lead entering the eighth inning all season. The Pirates are 14-11 on Oneil Cruz's .313 average and a defense that turns would-be hits into highlight reels; the team is so fun that they have two distinct celebrations: a welder’s mask and hoisting the cone. The Brewers are 13-11, running, walking, and grinding, which is how they always do it.

It’s a long season: It won't stay like this. Over 162 games guys will get hurt, slumps will happen, and a team is going to run into a wall. But right now, the last-place team in the NL Central would be in first or second in four of the five other divisions. The NL Central did not look like a powerhouse division coming into 2026, but right now everything is going right.