NL Central emerges as baseball’s most balanced division, all five teams winning
Five NL Central clubs were above .500 on April 28, a rare feat driven by pitching, youth and efficiency, not just a lucky first month.
The NL Central has turned into baseball’s clearest test case for balance: every one of its five teams was above .500 heading into Tuesday, a state of affairs no other division could match. The Reds led at 18-10, while the Cubs, Pirates, Cardinals and Brewers stayed tightly packed behind them, giving the division a collective 80-61 record that tied the NL West for the best mark in the majors.
That kind of compression is almost unheard of this late in April. According to Sportradar, it was the second-latest date in a season that every NL Central club had been over .500, trailing only May 29, 2004. That comparison matters because the 2004 division had six teams; this version has five, and all five were winning without any one club separating itself. The NL East, AL Central and AL West were all under .500 as divisions, which made the Central’s depth stand out even more sharply.
The reasons are a mix of established stars, emerging talent and pitching depth. Paul Skenes, who won the 2025 National League Cy Young Award in November, gave Pittsburgh the division’s most imposing ace. Cincinnati had the most explosive early offense, built around Elly De La Cruz and rookie Sal Stewart. Chicago’s roster also featured veteran force and lineup stability, while Milwaukee and St. Louis kept winning with teams that knew how to grind through series. Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman called it “a really good division” with good pitching and good offenses, and Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said the style of play was interesting because the clubs were competing collectively and all started well.
The payroll picture makes the standings even more striking. Four NL Central teams ranked among MLB’s 12 smallest payrolls on opening day, and the Reds and Pirates remained among the league’s lower-spending clubs. Spotrac listed Cincinnati at about $130.75 million, Pittsburgh at about $103.74 million, Milwaukee at about $127.82 million and St. Louis at about $94.58 million. That financial gap has not stopped the division from producing three 2025 playoff teams, the Brewers, Cubs and Reds, or from keeping the race tight in 2026. With Skenes, De La Cruz, Stewart, Konnor Griffin, JJ Wetherholt and Christian Yelich all shaping the landscape, the NL Central looks less like a short-lived April surprise than the sport’s most demanding midseason battle.
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