As we enter the month of June, here are the standings in the NL Central.
↵Cardinals 33-23
↵Brewers 30-25
↵Reds 28-28
↵Pirates 25-28
↵Cubs 23-30
↵Astros 21-34
↵The Brewers are starting to emerge as a real player in the division, just as I thought they might. The Reds, meanwhile, are slipping back into the pack.
↵At Bucs Dugout, David Todd has a good rundown of the Pirates' upcoming schedule. The Pirates have struggled so far at home. That's probably mostly incidental, but they have 16 of 27 games at PNC this month, so they'll need to improve in that area.
↵Perhaps more meaningfully, they'll also need to play better against good teams, as they've played very poorly against teams that have records well above .500, like the Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Giants and Braves. In June, they have series against the Phillies, Red Sox and Indians, and they'll need to do a bit better against those types of teams to have a decent chance of staying near .500 through the summer.
↵