Heat is on in NL Central race
Tight division has every team in hunt
PITTSBURGH — Joe Maddon didn’t let the free time created by a rare ejection go to waste.
Shortly after getting tossed by home plate umpire Joe West on July 4 following an outburst in which the Chicago Cubs manager appeared ready to take on any and all comers from the Pittsburgh dugout after taking exception to the way the Pirates kept pitching up and in to his players, Maddon retired to the visiting manager’s office at PNC Park. He eased into a chair, opened a bottle of wine, flipped on the television and watched his wildly uneven team put the finishing touches on an 11-3 victory that avoided a four-game sweep.
Veteran move. Opportunities to relax over the next two-plus months will be scarce in the most competitive division in the majors.
The National League Central enters the second half with the first-place Cubs and last-place Cincinnati separated by just 4½ games, an outlier during an otherwise yawn-inducing first half in which five divisions reached the All-star break with at least a 5½game gap between first and second.
There are no front-runners in the NL Central. No room to breathe either, something Maddon saw coming long ago.
“I’ve been talking about this for the last two years how teams are getting better in our division,” Maddon said. “It’s not going to go away. It’s going to be really difficult to really separate, especially by the fact that everybody is catching up right now. The second half is going to be very similar to what you’ve seen in the first half.”
That’s exactly what the Reds had in mind when they retooled over the winter in an effort to stop a streak of four straight 90-loss seasons. Cincinnati upgraded its rotation over the winter, added swagger in outfielder Yaisel Puig from the Dodgers and overcame a 1-8 start to stay within striking distance.
Milwaukee is the only NL Central team with a winning record within the division (24-18) but has been unable to create any separation.
First place, after all, is only a weeklong hot streak away. Not so much in the NL West — where the Dodgers have smashed their way to a 13½- game lead — or the NL East — where Atlanta’s young core has given the Braves a healthy six-game cushion over Washington.
“You can slow it way down knowing that we’re only a few games back,” Cardinals infielder Paul dejong said. “Today’s important, so we’re focusing on today. We’re not thinking, ‘Oh, we’re 7½ back and we’ve got to win 10 in a row.’ ... For us, with the small deficit or small lead, every game’s important so it locks us in the now.”
And leaves each team with some interesting decisions to make as the trade deadline approaches.
“Each of us has our flaws, but there’s a deep level of talent in this division, and you do, you have five teams that their ambition is to make the postseason,” Pittsburgh general manager Neal Huntington said. “That’s not the case in some of the other divisions. That’s not criticism. Teams cycle in and cycle out. It’s part of the industry. It’s part of the game. It’s been part of the game for decades.”