Chicago Cubs: NL Central Pulls into Rearview Mirror

This season was suppose to be easier than last season for the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs were supposed to have it easy, at least until the playoffs.

This season started off pretty easy for the Chicago, being in first place for most of the season, with exception to the first couple of weeks.

The Cardinals were “rebuilding” this year, losing key faces from their recent success: Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, David Eckstein. No Chris Carpenter or Mark Mulder for the first part of the year.

They didn’t rebuild for long, currently sitting 3.5 games behind the Cubs. Given that they have arguably one of the best mangers over the last two decades in Tony Larussa, and his incredible cohort, pitching coach Dave Duncan. Both coaches have a serious case for Coach of the Year given what they have to work with.

Going into this season I joked with my friends, who are all Cardinal fans—I live in Northeast Missouri, Cardinal County for the most part—that the Cardinals would be struggling to reach .500. And they put up no argument; they thought that it was going to be a long season for them and the Cardinals.

But the Cardinals have excelled in the absence of Carpenter, Mulder (to make first start this year on Wednesday), Adam Wainwright, Albert Pujols, and Juan Encarnacion, all keys to their World Series title a couple of years ago.

So with the Cardinals out of the way, it was down to the Cubs and Brewers going into the season. The Cubs were fresh off a comeback to over take the Brewers to win the division down the stretch. The big question going into this season for the Brewers was could they maintain their hot star from last year? Could they keep up with the Cubs' experience, pocketbooks, or popularity?

Answer: no, at least for the first part of the season. Their bullpen was terrible to start the year, headed by Eric Gagne. They were overmatched and the Cubs were hot out of the gates. Sounds a little bit like last year, only the other way around. I hope it doesn’t end up the same way.

But the Brewers have made up part of their deficit to come back to 3.5 games. And with the recent addition of C.C. Sabathia they will contend for the rest of the summer.

The Cardinals appear to be the third wheel in the race and though they have had a good run and have willed their way into contention, I do not see them hanging around through August.

After the All-Star game the Cubs will have 67 games left, 32 of which are at the friendly confines. So if the Cubs are going to win the division they will have to improve away from home, sweet home. And of those 67 games 43 are against the Central Division, 19 of which against the aforementioned Brewers and Cardinals, nine of those games are at Wrigley.

Whoever wins the Central, whether the Cubs, Brewers, or perhaps the Cardinals, the runner-up can take solace in the fact that the Wild Card will more than likely come out of the division.

As it usually does with baseball's long marathon of a season, it will come down to the last 10 feet, when the Cubs end the season on the road, in Milwaukee.