Brewers finally slip up, but sit in first place in Central
Welcome to the 18th week of our NL Central Power Rankings! We’ll release these rankings each week to grade all five teams and place them one through five. As everyone knows with power rankings, these should be taken as gospel and they’re obviously 100% accurate. Without further ado, let’s rank some teams!
1. Milwaukee Brewers (61-42); 4-2 this week; 98.2% chance to make postseason (Baseball Reference)
The Brewers extended their win streak to 11 games before it came to an end in Seattle on Tuesday evening. They’ve since lost two of three to the Mariners and Marlins, though they remain ahead of the Cubs in the NL Central.
Jackson Chourio, Isaac Collins, and Joey Ortiz each homered this week, as all three also hit .300 or better. Chourio led the team with 10 hits as he extended his hitting streak to 10 games, while Brice Turang was second on the team with seven hits, including a pair of doubles.
Quinn Priester and Brandon Woodruff both had quality starts, as Priester went seven innings, allowing two runs and striking out six, while Woodruff went six scoreless frames with five strikeouts. Grant Anderson went three scoreless innings with four strikeouts over three outings, and Tobias Myers, DL Hall, Trevor Megill, and Abner Uribe added scoreless bullpen weeks.
Milwaukee wraps up July at home with series against the Marlins and Cubs before an off day on Thursday.
2. Chicago Cubs (60-43); 2-4 this week; 98.5% chance to make postseason
The Cubs took two of three from Boston last weekend before dropping two of three to the Royals to begin the week. They’re now on the South Side of Chicago, taking on the White Sox, where they dropped the series opener on Friday night.
Matt Shaw crushed the baseball as he showed Chicago that they don’t need a trade deadline addition at the hot corner, hitting three homers and nine hits overall. Pete Crow-Armstrong slugged a pair of homers, while Nico Hoerner added eight hits and stole three bases.
Matthew Boyd continues to have a strong season, as he went seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts in a winning performance this week. Cade Horton went 5 2⁄3 scoreless frames with four strikeouts in his start, while Brad Keller, Brooks Kriske, Caleb Thielbar, and Daniel Palencia all had scoreless weeks.
Chicago wraps up their not-far-from-Wrigley road trip with a three-game set in Milwaukee beginning Monday as they’ll wrap up July.
3. Cincinnati Reds (54-50); 3-3 this week; 29.3% chance to make postseason
The Reds had an odd week, taking two of three in New York against the Mets before dropping two of three on the road to the Nationals. They won Friday’s series opener at home against the Rays.
TJ Friedl and Tyler Stephenson had the only homers for the Reds this week, while Jake Fraley and Gavin Lux tied for the team lead with eight hits apiece. Fraley’s three doubles and four RBIs led the team, while Noelvi Marte added seven hits of his own.
Nick Martinez picked up a pair of wins, going five starts in each outing and allowing four runs with 10 strikeouts. Nick Lodolo tossed a complete game shutout against Washington, striking out eight, while Tony Santillan, Scott Barlow, Emilio Pagán, and Taylor Rogers led the way in the bullpen.
Cincinnati wraps up July at home as they’ll finish up with the Rays on Sunday before three games with the Dodgers and four games with the Braves take them into August.
4. St. Louis Cardinals (54-51); 3-4 this week; 16.3% chance to make postseason
The Cards were swept by the D-backs in Arizona last weekend and dropped two of three against the mighty Rockies in Colorado for a 1-5 road trip. They’ve bounced back slightly the last two nights, beating the Padres at home to start a seven-game homestand.
Willson Contreras led the offense with 11 hits, including a pair of homers and five doubles, as he hit .423/.483/.846 on the week. Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan, and Iván Herrera added home runs for the offense, while Masyn Winn was second on the team with 10 hits over 27 at-bats.
Sonny Gray had a terrible week on the hill, allowing an insane 16 runs (14 earned) over 8 1⁄3 innings (15.12 ERA) in his two starts, though he still led the team with 10 strikeouts. JoJo Romero was great from the bullpen, striking out eight and allowing no runs over 4 2⁄3 innings across four outings, Riley O’Brien, Phil maton, Gordon Graceffo, Andre Granillo, and Steven Matz added scoreless weeks from the ‘pen, while Michael McGreevy went seven innings and allowed two runs (one earned) with just one strikeout in his start.
St. Louis wraps up July at home with the Marlins coming to town after finishing up in Milwaukee.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates (42-62); 3-3 this week; <0.1% chance to make postseason
The Pirates had one of the oddest weeks in recent memory, as they were swept by the lowly White Sox at home before sweeping the Detroit Tigers, who were, until recently, the best team in baseball. They fell back to earth as they dropped Friday’s series opener to the D-backs.
Spencer Horwitz and Andrew McCutchen each slugged a homer this week, while Tommy Pham, Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Horwitz each hit over .300 on the week in what was one of the better offensive weeks for Pittsburgh this year.
NL Cy Young favorite Paul Skenes finally picked up another win against Detroit, while Bailey Falter (seven innings, one earned run) and Mike Burrows (11 innings, two earned runs) both had strong starts this week. Dennis Santana and Yohan Ramírez each had scoreless weeks, while David Bednar added four scoreless frames and picked up a pair of saves.
The Pirates wrap up their nine-game homestand on Sunday, as they’ll then head to San Francisco and Colorado as we turn the calendar into August.