The National League Central might be the most competitive division in baseball in 2026.
The Milwaukee Brewers look to defend their division title behind outfielder Jackson Chourio and catcher William Contreras. The Chicago Cubs aim to challenge their northern rivals with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson stirring the drink.
The Cincinnati Reds are always a threat, fueled by shortstop Elly De La Cruz and pitcher Hunter Greene. The Pittsburgh Pirates are invigorated behind staff ace Paul Skenes and top prospect Konnor Griffin. Finally, the retooling St. Louis Cardinals head into the season with shortstop Masyn Winn first baseman Alec Burleson leading the way.
Athlon Sports tapped anonymous scouts to deliver the skinny on opponents for our 2026 MLB Preview magazine. Here’s what they had to say about the five teams in the NL Central.
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American League East
American League Central
American League West
National League East
NL West: March 6
Chicago Cubs
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They’ve got the most talent in the division. You look up and down the lineup and you’re like, ‘Where’s the out?’ They’re dangerous all the way through, and they’ve got excellent defenders everywhere. Pete Crow-Armstrong and Ian Happ get to everything in the outfield, and they’re strong up the middle with Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner.
At times, it seemed like they played like their manager was pissed off at them; I guess that can be a good thing because they hold themselves to a high standard. But sometimes they just seemed tense. Like how does PCA go a month without hitting? He disappeared in August and wasn’t much better at the end, and he’s better than that.
They’ve got a very solid rotation — you trust guys like Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea — and Cade Horton is a candidate to break out into an ace. Getting Justin Steele back will be a big boost, whenever it happens. He doesn’t need to rush back because the Cubs should be good enough to be at or near the top of the division all season. They lost a couple of key bullpen arms, but Craig Counsell has always been able to find those guys, so I don’t worry about that.
Cincinnati Reds
Terry Francona made such a big difference here. Instead of just being this ragtag outfit, they’re a baseball team now. They don’t go up there swinging for the fences all the time. They’ve got the talent to be a little over .500, and that’s probably where they’ll be again.
The pitching could get them a little higher, if Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Andrew Abbott all take steps forward together; they’re already really good, and young enough to possibly get even better. Brady Singer is exactly what he was supposed to be: the mid-rotation stabilizer they needed. Bringing back Emilio Pagán was big; I’ve always loved his stuff, and I trust him at the back end.
Elly De La Cruz is so talented and he always posts, but the strikeouts make him a limited superstar. It’s time for Spencer Steer and Matt McLain to show who they really are. They’re talented guys, but the trend line is going in the wrong direction.
Milwaukee Brewers
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They just coach better than everyone else. They see what they’ve got and get the most out of every player by emphasizing his strengths. They do have some legitimate middle-of-the-order All-Star types, like Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio and William Contreras.
But mostly it’s these little slap hitters who’ll run into one occasionally but drive you nuts all the time. It’s like: walk, base hit, walk, base hit, and now your pitcher is so pissed, like, ‘We cannot get out of this inning!’ and he’ll make a mistake. Just avoid outs, that’s all they’re trying to do.
Some of their pitchers have high-end stuff like Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff and Jacob Misiorowski, but they’re best at getting guys like Quinn Priester and just telling him to follow whatever Contreras puts down. Priester’s always had the stuff, but he’s a guy that would get into his own head and overthink everything. Now he just does his thing and trusts it. They also catch the ball, which also helps their pitchers work confidently in the zone.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Nothing ever changes with the Pirates, and it’s pretty sad. They’ve got the best pitcher in baseball in Paul Skenes and a future superstar coming in Konnor Griffin, but their offense is a mess — dead last in homers and nobody else was even close.
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They should bench Oneil Cruz to light a fire under him; he doesn’t even try. Bryan Reynolds is fine, but they need two sluggers to take the pressure off him to be ‘the guy.’ At least their pitching is real; Henry Davis doesn’t hit, but he’s good at pitch sequencing and these guys have the talent to execute at a high level. I’m a big Braxton Ashcroft fan. He’s got a Dave Stieb slider that you don’t see much anymore — bigger than a cutter, but not a sweeper like everyone throws. And he’s just a big, physical dude who wants to rip your face off.
Bubba Chandler’s fastball is so good that he’ll be successful early in his career, but he’ll need to refine his other stuff to last a while. And Dennis Santana will have staying power as a big-league closer with five pitches and that slider/cutter combination.
St. Louis Cardinals
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Chaim Bloom has a lot of work to do to restore this franchise. It’s head-scratching to go into that ballpark on weekends and it’s more than half-empty. It’s not about spending money; they still spend the requisite amount on a team of that market size. They’re just making boneheaded moves and alienating players. I think the watershed moment was when they fired Mike Shildt; he ran circles around other managers in that division. And while they used to call up guys who’d come up ready to kick the crap out of you, now they call up guys, spit them out and some other team builds them back up.
Masyn Winn is an exception — he’s excellent at shortstop. But there’s just not much to get excited about. Nolan Arenado is a shell of himself now. Matthew Liberatore is finally putting it together as a starter, but I don’t know if he’s much more than a mid-rotation guy. They gave $12.5 million to Dustin May, just to have a guy who might get you some prospects at the deadline. They just have that look of a team that will get even worse before it gets better.