Baseball Update: NL Central

Let's get away from Brett Favre and Manny Ramirez stories for right now. Let's take a look at the happenings around Major League Baseball. Today we will look at the NL Central.

Like I said last week, the Milwaukee Brewers are moving up the standings in the NL Central. As of right now, the Brewers are two games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. The Brewers have gone 8-2 in the last ten games and have won four straight. I think both the Cardinals and Brewers will make the playoffs out of this division this year.

Good story of the week: Bobby Scales is a 31-year-old rookie who started his first game of his career for the Chicago Cubs. He spent 11 years in the minors grinding to make it to the majors. And he finally got his chance last Tuesday. He even got his first career hit of Tim Lincecum. It felt really good seeing this guy play his first game in the majors.

Power!: One of the reasons Milwaukee has climbed up the standings is because of their powerful lineup. The Brewers are tied for first in the National League in home runs and sixth in the Majors. Ryan Braun, Mike Cameron, and Rickie Weeks each have five home runs. Plus the Brewers actually have a better pitching staff that they thought. Plus they have a real closer in Trevor Hoffman. Add this with their lineup and you can watch a playoff team in action.

Class of the division: Even though St. Louis has gone 5-5 in the last ten games, they are still the class of the division. They are 18-10 and are two games ahead of the Brewers in the NL Central. They have the seventh best batting average in the majors and third best in the national league. They also have the fourth best team ERA in the majors. Even though they are stumbling right now, but they have the hitting and pitching to stay atop of the NL Central all season.