NL Central Thread 2016

[thedddd]

any pirates fans in here? did they raise the batter eye green wall at pnc park? i thought you used to be able to see the whole bridge in the outfield.

Not that I am aware of but i haven't been to a game yet this year.

 

[thedddd]

The Pirates are going to catch the Cubs.

They may not win the division, but it's probably going to come down to the final week of the season.

The Cubs are going to win around 100 games; however, they're not going to sustain their current pace, which currently projects to around 130 wins, all season.

The Pirates will approach 100 wins this season. That lineup is deep as hell, especially with Kang back, and the rotation will get a huge boost once Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow are called up this summer.

Taillon and Glasnow are a huge wildcard. If they pitch lights out like they are in AAA then the Pirates will be a lot better. If not the starting pitching outside of Cole has been suspect. They need the starters to go 7 so they can just use Watson/Hughes (maybe Felix) and then Melancon, if not the rest of the bullpen sucks.

Anyway I highly doubt they will catch the Cubs since they can't beat them.

 

[thedddd]

^ Side note you take their record against the Cubs out of the equation: 1-5 , they have a .618 winning %.

 

[Clayton]

^ Side note you take their record against the Cubs out of the equation: 1-5 , they have a .618 winning %.

If you remove the Cardinals record against the Cubs, Nationals and Pirates then they are one of the best teams in baseball


I think everyone in the 'not Cubs' category just needs to aim to be one of the 'hot at the right time' teams that always catches the league at the end of the season.

 

[packerzrule]

If you remove the Cardinals from the face of the earth, then the world would be right once again


I think everyone in the 'not Cubs' category just needs to aim to be one of the 'hot at the right time' teams that always catches the league at the end of the season.

FIFY

 

[Clayton]

FIFY

Probably the worst thing for Cardinals haters is the fact that the Rams moved away. Now baseball and hockey are the only sports in the area so those fanbases will only become stronger and as such, its probably that the Cardinals will be more likely to spend money moving forward.

 

[calsnowskier]

NL Central...

You are welcome.

 

[scoutyjones2]

Probably the worst thing for Cardinals haters is the fact that the Rams moved away. Now baseball and hockey are the only sports in the area so those fanbases will only become stronger and as such, its probably that the Cardinals will be more likely to spend money moving forward.

That's funny right there!

 

[Villain]

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Mitziman]

If you remove the Cardinals record against the Cubs, Nationals and Pirates then they are one of the best teams in baseball


I think everyone in the 'not Cubs' category just needs to aim to be one of the 'hot at the right time' teams that always catches the league at the end of the season.

As a 6 handicap in golf, if i removed (1) par 5, (1) par 4 and (1) par 3 from my scorecard every round I would be the best golfer in the world...

 

[navamind]

Kyle Hendricks is pretty underrated. 15th in Fangraphs WAR. Even last year, he was pretty good (3.95 ERA/3.36 FIP/3.25 xFIP, 3.4 WAR, 180 IP).

 

[Kevin12773]

Kyle Hendricks is pretty underrated. 15th in Fangraphs WAR. Even last year, he was pretty good (3.95 ERA/3.36 FIP/3.25 xFIP, 3.4 WAR, 180 IP).

He is sneaky for sure with movement on his pitches. One of those guys when you watch pitch its 87 right down the middle but people have a tough time with him but looks like he should get rocked

 

[HammerDown]

LOL @ the Cardinals

 

[bksballer89]

LOL @ the Cardinals

Cardinals demote Wong months after extension

 

[packerzrule]

What went Wong???

 

[Clayton]

LOL @ the Cardinals

Right in the middle of the wild card race winning 7 of 10. It could be a lot worse

 

[navamind]

+162 runs. On pace to surpass the Yankees all-time record of +411.

They're now 43-18. And yet, their record is four games below their pythag W-L (47-14).

 

[Clayton]

Cards win 5 in a row and Pirates lose 5 in a row. Major shakeup in the middle of the pack.

Cubs just crushing teams, though. Going to take something weird happening to get them off their game.

 

[navamind]

Cards win 5 in a row and Pirates lose 5 in a row. Major shakeup in the middle of the pack.

Cubs just crushing teams, though. Going to take something weird happening to get them off their game.

They're not going to score runs at the pace they've been. Using Bill James' runs created formula, they're averaging around 4.83 RC/G. Which is still among the best in the league, but a far cry from the 5.37 R/G they've averaged. Those figures don't include today's blowout though.

Cubs have great run prevention, but even that's due for regression as well. They've allowed the fewest runs per game in the majors by far (2.85; Dodgers are 2nd at 3.75). Their FIP and xFIP (3.33 and 3.56) are well above their team 2.60 ERA, though those figures are still 2nd in MLB.

They won't keep this kind of performance up forever, but even then, they should still be really really good. Fangraphs has them going 60-42 for the remainder of the year, finishing at 102-60. These projections can be a little conservative. They could play .500 ball and they'd finish with around 94 wins. That should easily get them a playoff spot. I don't think either the Cards or Pirates will top that figure, especially not Pittsburgh.