Welcome to the 20th week of our NL Central Power Rankings! We will release these rankings every week to assess all five teams and place them one to five. As everyone knows with power ranking, they must be considered as a gospel and are clearly 100% accurate. Let’s rank some teams without further delay!
1. Milwaukee Brewers (71-44); 6-0 this week; > 99.9% chance to make late season (baseball reference)
The Brewers are now on a seven-game win-streak after a sweep from their six-game road trip against the Nationals and Braves before they won the exciting series opener against the Mets.
Brice Turang led the Brewers this week with three homers and hit .346/.370/.808 with another three Doubles and nine RBIs. Isaac Collins, fresh from winning NL Rookie of the month, led the team with 10 hits this week and hit .455/.571/.773 with a Homer, two Doubles, a triple, eight RBIs, five points, four walks and a steal. Andrew Vaughn, Blake Perkins and Christian Yelich Homered too.
Brandon Woodruff added two more victories this week, making four runs more than 13 innings (2.77 ERA) with 16 strikeouts possible. Freddy Peralta went five innings with one point allowed and seven strikeouts, while Jose Quintana and Quinn priest added both quality start. Trevor Megill took a trio of rescues, while Abner Uribe, Grant Anderson, Jared Koenig and Nick Mears had scoreless weeks.
The Milwaukee Homstand continues with the Mets up to and including Sunday for three games with the Pirates. They have a day off on Thursday before they start with a piece of 19 games in 18 days, starting with the Reds in Cincinnati next Friday.
2. Chicago Cubs (66-49); 2-4 this week; 97.8% chance to make late season
The Cubs had a tough week and took two of the three against the Orioles, but lost three of their next four games against the Reds (1-2) and cardinals (0-1) on their way to the weekend.
Ian Happ’s Homer and two Doubles led the Cubs in what was generally offensive, while he .333/.391/.571 struck seven hits. Dansby Swanson hit a few homers and rode four in it, while Nico Hoerner led the team with eight hits.
Matthew Boyd had a solid pair of starts but went with 0-1 this week, which meant three runs with 11 strikeouts about 12 innings. Shota Imanaga struck seven and allowed one point over 6 1/3 innings, while Cad Horton extended its scoreless innings streak with 5 2/3 scoreless frames and six strikeouts. Drew Pomeranz, Taylor Rogers, Brad Keller and Nate Pearson also had scoreless weeks.
The Cubs end on Sunday in St. Louis for a day off on Monday. They then go to Toronto for three games before they return home to welcome the Pirates and Bewers for eight games in seven days.
3. St. Louis Cardinals (59-58); 4-2 this week; 6.5% chance to make the late season
The cards had a strong week against a number of tough opponents, with 3-3 against the Padres (1-2) and Dodgers (2-1) from the West before they won the Cubs’s series openers against the Cubs.
Willson Contreras, Nolan Gorman, Iván Herrera, Pedro Pagés, Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn home this week, because the eight hits of Herrera also led the team. Walker, Winn and Alec Burleson all finished second in the team with seven hits each, with Winn added a few Doubles.
Sonny Gray went seven innings with one point allowed and threw a team-high eight this week. Michael McGreevy took a few victories, making four runs more than 12 innings possible and threw seven. Matt Svanson and Kyle Leahy led the bullpen with two scoreless trips (a total of 7 1/3 innings). Jojo Romero also took a few saves while he looks like the new closer after the departure of Ryan Helsley at the Handelsdeadline.
The cardinals will remain a long nine-game hom stand next weekend, while the Cubs, Rockies and Yankees all come to the city.
4. Cincinnati Reds (60-57); 2-4 this week; 26.5% chance to make late season
The Reds had a mid-week, two of the three dropped on the Braves before they won their series with the Cubs and losing the first two games of their four-game set with the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
Spencer Steer and Tyler Stephenson hit the only homers for Cincy this week, with the nine hits from TJ Friedl who led the team. Gavin Lux added seven hits, while Miguel Andujar reached the team five times five times in 11 record performances (.455 OBP).
Chase Burns made a few starts, spread over seven innings with one point allowed and a team-high 12 strikeouts. Zack Littell went seven innings with eight strikeouts and one point allowed in his start, while Luis Mey 2 1/3 scoreless innings was about three performances by the Bullpen. Sam Moll, Lyon Richardson, Emilio Pagán and Graham Ashcraft also had scoreless weeks of the Bullpen.
The Reds wrap their road trip in Pittsburgh on Sunday, because they go home to take the Phillies and the Brewers in the following week.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates (51-66); 4-3 this week; <0.1% chance to make late season
The Pirates had a strange week and let two of the three fall on both the Rockies and the Giants before they took the first two games of their four-game set with the Reds on their way to the weekend.
Liover Peguero Homde three times and Spencer Horwitz added a few gayers in the week and hit .318/.375/.636 with seven hits. Bryan Reynolds had eight hits, including a Homer, three Doubles and a triple. Nick Gonzales led the attack with nine hits and drove in three.
Paul Skenes had a “down” week and made a few starts with four runs allowed more than 11 innings and hit a team -high 16 batters. Andrew Heaney also had a solid one, although short, starting, so one point was more than 4 2/3 innings. Dauri Moreta, Carmen Mlodzinski, Ryan Borucki, Yohan Ramírez and Cam Sanders had scoreless weeks of the Bullpen.
Pittsburgh ends on Sunday their homstand against Cincinnati before they go to the midwest to take on the Brewers and Cubs.
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