Column: An NL Central feast — with Cubs, Brewers and Cardinals all in Chicago — is something to gnaw on
In a rare scheduling quirk in the middle of June, the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers were both in town for the first time this season, playing on opposite sides of town.
The Cubs played host to the Brewers on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, while the White Sox took on the Cardinals at Rate Field. It was a National League Central smorgasbord, though the hors d'oeuvres were perhaps a little more enticing on the North Side, where a rat was spotted wandering the concourse a few hours before the game, looking for dining options.
Whether the rat was part of the team's campaign to get the 2027 All-Star Game at Wrigley was unknown, but as Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney once joked to former Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, 'the rats are part of the Wrigley Field ambience.'
The NL Central, once derided as the Comedy Central, is more competitive than most experts figured going into the season. The Cubs were favored to win the division, but few expected them to be tied with the New York Mets for the second-best record in the majors (45-28) on June 18 after a 5-3 win over the Brewers, especially with Justin Steele out for the season and Shota Imanaga on the injured list the last six weeks.
But that's where they are, and every win is building confidence.
Seiya Suzuki's three-run home run gave the Cubs the lead for good Tuesday, and Pete Crow-Armstrong put on a show late with a sensational diving catch in the top of the eighth and a 452-foot solo homer off the right-field video board leading off the bottom of the inning. The ballpark erupted both times, and chants of 'M-V-P!' grew louder.
'I love being out there every day,' Crow-Armstrong said. 'I love diving and sliding and banging into stuff. That's what I live for.'
So who can catch the Cubs?
The Brewers did next to nothing in free agency last offseason, losing Willy Adames to the San Francisco Giants and dealing closer Devin Williams to the New York Yankees. But they've hung in for the most part, going 14-9 since May 25 with some underrated starting pitching. Rookie Jacob Misiorowski will make his second start Wednesday after becoming the ninth pitcher since 1900 to throw at least five hitless innings in his major-league debut in a 6-0 win over the Cardinals in Milwaukee.
The Cardinals were supposed to be in a 'reset' this season but somehow finished May eight games over .500 and only two games behind the Cubs. They've since plummeted back to reset mode, going 5-10 in June after Tuesday's 12-2 win on the South Side. Whether they're sellers or buyers at the trade deadline is the big question in president of baseball operations John Mozeliak's final season.
Whether the Brewers, Cardinals or Cincinnati Reds will be battling the Cubs for the division title in September might depend on the next couple of weeks. The Cubs have the NL's second-most potent offense in terms of runs scored and rank fourth in pitching. They also have the resources to add on at the trade deadline, which president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer already has suggested they'll do.
Photos: Chicago Cubs take opener vs. Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley FieldThe Cubs' $213 million payroll ranks only 13th in the majors, according to spotrac.com, but it's still decidedly larger than those of the Cardinals ($159 million), Reds ($139 million) or Brewers ($135 million). They could pull away from the pack, but with so many intradivision games remaining, anything can happen. The Cubs and Cardinals end the regular season with a three-game series at Wrigley.
'It's always interesting seeing teams at different times of the year, and it's always the tale of 162 (games) to determine who is really a great team,' Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said.
'That's part of the challenge of our sport but also why I think 162 is important. It's a great thing for our division to have great competition and a lot of young talent. It's funny because we haven't played the Cardinals yet, so haven't had the full feel of our division. But we have a lot of quality teams.'
It does seem strange the Cubs and Cardinals haven't met this far into the season, but that will be rectified next week when they play a four-game series at Busch Stadium. While the two are longtime archrivals, the Cubs-Brewers rivalry might be the most interesting one now with Cubs manager Craig Counsell having switched uniforms before the 2024 season.
Hoerner said the Counsell factor might have been a big deal last year, but now Counsell has been around long enough that no one thinks about it much. Counsell, as usual, downplayed the fact he's managing against his former team or that it's a big series.
'This is a team that's been on top of the division for most of the last five, six years,' Counsell said of the Brewers. 'Those are important games. But I had a teammate that came into the clubhouse every single day and said, 'Biggest game of the year,' every single day. That's how you treat it in general.'
Counsell wouldn't reveal the name of the former teammate, perhaps protecting him from trolls who would argue every game is not the biggest game of the year. Counsell obviously is not prone to hype a series. There was a better chance the rat would hype this Cubs-Brewers showdown.
Crow-Armstrong, who is running away with an outfield spot in NL All-Star voting, said the Cubs' mindset was 'just take three,' which would give them an 8½-game lead over the Brewers.
'It's a good club and they're playing good baseball right now,' he said. 'It'll be fun. First time having them at Wrigley and they always play us well, so a good opportunity to create some more distance.'
They got off to a good start Tuesday, improving to 3-1 against the Brewers this year.
The Cubs honored the late Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker with a moment of silence before the game, and fans of both teams gave him a standing ovation. Summerlike weather had arrived in time for the Cubs and Sox, and the NL Central smorgasbord was ready to be enjoyed.
Just remember, don't feed the rats.
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