Every Team in the NL Central Has a Winning Record and Baseball Has Never Seen This Before

Stop scrolling past this. The NL Central is doing something that has literally never happened in Major League Baseball history, and we're only three weeks into the season.

Every. Single. Team. Has a winning record. All five of them. It's the only division in baseball that can say that right now, and according to the record books going back to 1969, no division has ever finished a season with that happening. Not once in 57 years.

This is not some close call either

The Reds are sitting pretty at 15-8. The Pirates, Cubs, and Cardinals are all tied at 13-9. And the Brewers? The team that absolutely dominated last season with the best record in all of baseball at 97-65? They're "only" 12-9 with a .571 winning percentage. That's the worst team in the division, and they're still on pace for 93 wins.

Think about that for a second. If you picked the Brewers up and dropped them into the AL Central or AL West today, they'd be in first place. The "worst" team in this division would lead most other divisions in baseball.

The NL Central as a whole is running a 66-44 record with a .600 winning percentage. The NL West is the only other division that even has three teams above .500.

Has this ever happened? The history says no

Since the Divisional Era started in 1969, there have only been two seasons where every team in a division finished at .500 or better. The 2005 NL East did it (with the Braves, Phillies, Mets, Marlins, and Nationals), and the 1991 AL West pulled it off too. That's it. Two times in 57 years. And it hasn't happened since 2005.

For a last-place team to finish with a winning record? That's never occurred in the Divisional Era. The best a last-place team has done is 81-81, a perfect .500. The 2005 Nationals and 1991 Angels both hit that mark and still finished dead last in their divisions.

What makes this year different

The Brewers and Cubs were supposed to battle for this division again. Instead, the Pirates caught everyone off guard, jumping out early with Paul Skenes and Konnor Griffin. The Cardinals looked like they were rebuilding but now they're right in it thanks to Jordan Walker's hot start and top prospect JJ Wetherholt. Even the Reds, a surprise Wild Card team last year, are leading the division now with rookie Sal Stewart tied for the NL lead with eight home runs and tied for the MLB lead with 21 RBIs.

Here's the kicker: a .571 winning percentage almost always means playoffs. In the Divisional Era, 263 teams have finished at that winning percentage or better. Of those 263, 234 made the postseason. Only 29 missed out. That's almost 90% of teams making the dance. And since the playoff format expanded to three Wild Card spots in each league in 2022, no 90-win team has missed the playoffs at all.

The Reds are on pace for 106 wins. Pittsburgh, Chicago, and St. Louis are each on pace for 96. This division is absolutely loaded, and if this pace holds, we're about to see baseball history.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.