Welcome to the 22nd week of our NL Central Power Rankings! We’ll release these rankings each week to grade all five teams and place them one through five. As everyone knows with power rankings, these should be taken as gospel and they’re obviously 100% accurate. Without further ado, let’s rank some teams!
1. Milwaukee Brewers (81-48); 4-4 this week; >99.9% chance to make postseason (Baseball Reference)
The Brewers had one of their worst weeks in a while, and by “worst” I mean playing .500 baseball, taking two of three from the Reds, dropping three of five to the Cubs, and winning a Friday night thriller on a walk-off homer against the Giants.
William Contreras hit that aforementioned walk-off homer, as he picked up seven hits, including a pair of homers, on the week. Brice Turang also slugged a pair of long balls as he continues a great month of August, picking up a team-high 12 hits to slash .429/.500/.714. Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Christian Yelich also homered, while Sal Frelick finished second on the team with nine hits, including three doubles.
Quinn Priester made a pair of solid starts, totaling 9 2/3 innings with three runs allowed and a team-high nine strikeouts. Freddy Peralta continues to impress, as he worked six scoreless frames against the Cubs with six strikeouts to pick up his MLB-leading 15th win of the year. Jose Quintana also made a pair of solid starts, while Tobias Myers and Abner Uribe were both nails out of the bullpen.
Milwaukee continues the homestand with the Giants and D-backs for seven games through Thursday. They’ll then head to Toronto for a quick three-game road trip to close out the month.
2. Chicago Cubs (74-55); 6-2 this week; 99.7% chance to make postseason
The Cubs jump back into our No. 2 spot with a solid 6-2 week, including a 3-2 series against the Brewers to take the season series. They won two of three against the Pirates last weekend and took Friday’s series opener against the Angels.
Owen Ciassie hit his first career homer this week, while Pete Crow-Armstrong, who has struggled mightily for the last few weeks, hit the go-ahead homer in the ninth against the Angels Friday night. Caissie was the only player to bat over .300 for the week, while Michael Busch led the team with seven hits, though he hit just .241/.290/.310 overall.
Shota Imanaga made a pair of solid starts but didn’t get a win either time, as he totaled 14 innings with three runs allowed (1.93 ERA) and a team-high 11 strikeouts. Javier Assad also made a pair of solid starts, spanning 10 innings with two runs allowed (1.80 ERA) and seven strikeouts. Brad Keller worked 3 2/3 scoreless frames across four outings, picking up a save, while Caleb Thielbar and Drew Pomeranz also worked scoreless weeks from the bullpen.
The Cubs close out August out west, as they’ll take on the Angels this weekend before visits to the Giants and Rockies heading into next weekend.
3. Cincinnati Reds (67-62); 3-3 this week; 39.3% chance to make postseason
The Reds snapped Milwaukee’s 14-game losing streak with an extra-innings win on Sunday before taking two of three from the Angels in Anaheim. They dropped Friday’s series opener with the D-backs.
Noelvi Marte continues to play well, with a pair of homers and a team-high 10 hits this week, as he’s now hitting .302/.338/.519 with 10 homers, 40 RBIs, and 30 runs across 59 games this season. Ke’Bryan Hayes had a solid week with his new team, picking up eight hits, including a homer, and the same goes for Miguel Andujar, who had seven hits, including three doubles.
Andrew Abbott was solid against Milwaukee on Sunday, allowing no runs over seven frames with seven strikeouts, and Nick Martinez worked six innings with one run allowed and seven strikeouts in his start. Brady Singer also had a quality start to pick up the win, while Tony Santillan, Connor Phillips, Sam Moll, and Brent Suter had scoreless bullpen weeks.
The Reds continue their West Coast road trip with series against the D-backs and Dodgers through Wednesday. They’ll get an off day on Thursday before welcoming the Cardinals for three games to end August.
4. St. Louis Cardinals (64-66); 3-4 this week; 3.3% chance to make postseason
The Cardinals were swept by the Yankees over the weekend before taking two of three from the Marlins to begin these week. They’re now facing the Rays, who they’ve split the first two games of a three-game set with.
Willson Contreras slugged three homers with five RBIs and five runs scored this week, while Nolan Gorman added a pair of his own. Lars Nootbaar led the team with 11 hits, including two doubles, while Alec Burleson had 10 hits, including a double and a triple.
None of the starters had a great week, as each of them allowed at least three runs in each game. Riley O’Brien and Matt Svanson were the lone scoreless arms from the bullpen this week, while JoJo Romero picked up a save but also took a loss.
After wrapping up with Tampa on Sunday, they’ll return home for a quick four-game set with the Pirates before hitting the road again to take on the Reds in Cincinnati next weekend.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates (55-74); 3-3 this week; <0.1% chance to make postseason
The Pirates dropped two of three to the Cubs last weekend before taking two of three against the Blue Jays to begin the week. They won Friday’s series opener against the Rockies in a fight of two terrible teams.
Alexander Canario, Spencer Horwitz, and Tommy Pham all homered for Pittsburgh this week, while Nick Gonzales led the team with seven hits and four runs scored. Bryan Reynolds added six hits, including four doubles.
Paul Skenes worked another quality start, allowing two runs and striking out eight over six frames, while Braxton Ashcraft and Johan Oviedo each picked up the win with solid five-inning starts. Carmen Mlodzinski worked four innings with just one unearned run allowed in his start, while Bubba Chandler, MLB’s top pitching prospect, worked four scoreless innings for the save on Friday night. Yohan Ramírez, Evan Sisk, Dennis Santana, Chase Shugart, and Kyle Nicolas also had scoreless bullpen weeks, with Santana collecting a pair of saves.
After wrapping up the homestand on Sunday, the Pirates will hit the road to close out August, as they’ll stop for four games in St. Louis and three games in Boston.