Welcome to the 25th 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 (90-58); 3-3 this week; > 99.9% chance to make late season (baseball reference)
The Bewers had a strange week and sweep the pirates in Pittsburgh before they were swept by the Rangers in Arlington. After a free Thursday they won their series opener with the cardinals on Friday evening.
Jake Bauers had a great week in limited opportunities, hit a few gayers and a few doubles for a .538/.600/1.154 line with seven hits, six RBIs and six runs in just 13 bates. Jackson Chouio added a few homers and two Doubles, who led the team with eight hits, while Brice Turang Semi-Hot remained from his great month of August with six hits, including a Homer.
Jacob Misiorowski and Brandon Woodruff led the rotation with a few quality started last weekend against the Pirates. Miz went seven innings with one point allowed and eight strikeouts, while Big Woo went six scoreless frames with eight strikeouts. Jared Koenig, Tobias Myers, Craig Yoho, Rob Zastryzny, Grant Anderson and Carlos Rodriguez had scoreless innings of the pen.
Milwaukee continues the homing position with the cardinals and angels up to and including Thursday, and they then start their last six-game road trip against the cardinals and Padres next weekend.
2. Chicago Cubs (84-63); 3-3 this week; > 99.9% chance to make late season
The Cubs dropped two of the three in the Nats in Chicago last weekend before they took two of the three in Atlanta against the Braves to start the week. After a day off on Thursday, they took Friday’s series opener against the Rays in Wigley.
Carson Kelly wore the attack of the Cubs this week with three homers, while Ian Happ added his own Homer. Nico Hoerner handed in a week of 10 hit and cut .435 /.500/.609 with two doubles and one triple.
Cad Horton continued his strong Rookie year with 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball and hit a few. Colin Rea led the team with six strikeouts, making only one run possible in 5 1/3 innings of long relief work. Drew Pomeranz, Drew Keller, Porter Hodge, Andrew Kittredge, Caleb Thielbar, Ben Brown and Taylor Rogers worked scoreless innings from the Bullpen.
The Cubs will close their three-game set with tampa on Sunday and then last this year on a seven-game journey that will bring them to visit the Pirates and Reds.
3. Cincinnati Reds (74-73); 4-2 this week; 18.4% chance to make late season
The Reds apparently discovered this week, while they jump back in the number 3 place in our ranking with the best weekly record among NL Central teams. They won two of the three against both the Mets and the Padres while they brought themselves back into the Wild Card Race, although they dropped the series opener on Friday with the As.
Austin Hays and Sal Stewart each hit a few gayers for the Reds this week, because Hays also led the team with seven hits, which cut .318/.333/.591. Will Benson, TJ Friedl, Matt McLain and Tyler Stephenson also added a homer each. Elly de la Cruz took five hits and four RBIs and also stealed three bags.
Hunter Greene had a great start this week, with seven innings of one-run ball (only a solo gay) with 12 strikeouts. Brady Singer handed in two strong starts, with 12 innings with three runs allowed and nine punchouts, while Andrew Abbott bounced back from a few rough trips to go eight innings, so that one run and six were beaten. Nick Lodolo also worked five scoreless frames in his start, in what was a solid week for the rotation as a whole. Brent Ster, Connor Phillips and Zach Maxwell worked scoreless weeks for the Bullpen.
Cincinnati leaves Sacramento on Sunday and goes to St. Louis, where they will fight against the cardinals for three games. Then they return home for a large seven-game homing area with four games with the Cubs and three with the Pirates.
4. St. Louis Cardinals (72-76); 2-4 this week; 0.3% chance to make the late season
The cards won their weekend series with the Giants last weekend, but have since lost four consecutive, because they were swept by the Mariners in Seattle before they dropped the series opener on Friday in Milwaukee.
Alec Burleson and Iván Herrera each hit a Homer to lead the Redbirds this week, while Lars Nootbaar led the team with seven hits in 26 battles. It was a disappointing week in general for the cards, because they only scored 16 points in six games (2.67 points/game), where Herrera was at the forefront with three points scored. Burleson and Thomas Saggese led the team with three RBIs each.
Michael McGreevy handed in a quality start with one run allowed and four strikeouts over six frames this week, while Miles Mikolas went five innings with two permitted points and two strikeouts in his outing. Matt Svanson, Kyle Leahy, Jojo Romero, Nick Raquet and John King worked spotless bullpen weeks, with Svanson leading the way with five strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.
St. Louis closes the road trip in Milwaukee on Sunday before returning home for sets of three games with the Reds and Brewers that will go through next weekend.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates (64-84); 0-6 this week; <0.1% chance to make late season
After having seen great in recent weeks, the Pirates had one of their worst weeks this season, because they were wiped by the Brewers and the Orioles before they lost the series opener of Friday in Washington, anything but guarantee that they will end again at the bottom of the NL Central.
Spencer Horwitz led the team this week with two gays, while Alexander Canario and Tommy Pham each added a Homer. Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo were at the forefront with six hits each, although Gonzales was the only batter in the line -up to hit at least .300, which only achieved .300/.300/.400 with two doubles.
The start rotation (outside of Bubba Chandler) generally had a solid week, while Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Mike Burrows and Johan Oviedo together go 26 1/3 innings are allowed with only seven runs allowed (2.39 ERA) and 27 Strikeouts about their four starts, although they have no victories to show. That means that the bullpen was not great, because Dennis Santana and Carmen Mlodzinski were the only relievers who did not allow runs this week, combining five innings in four performances.
The BUCS round their road trip against the NATS on Sunday before they returned home for the last time in 2025, because they welcome the Cubs and Athletics next weekend.
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