WALDRON GRAIN & FUEL

04/28 05:00 CDT The mighty NL Central is the majors' only division with 5 winning teams The mighty NL Central is the majors' only division with 5 winning teams By JAY COHEN AP Baseball Writer CHICAGO (AP) --- The NL Central has reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes. It has some of the majors' most promising rookies, like Sal Stewart, Konnor Griffin and JJ Wetherholt. It has young stars like Elly De La Cruz and older ones like Christian Yelich. Maybe this strong start from all five teams isn't that big a surprise after all. "I think it's a really good division," Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman said. "Obviously, good pitching, good offenses, and all the teams have gotten off to a good start. So we know that we've got our work cut out for us in this division." Heading into Tuesday, the NL Central is the only division in baseball in which every team has a winning record. It's the second-latest date in a season that every NL Central club has been over .500, according to Sportradar, trailing May 29, 2004, when the division had six teams and each one was 23-22 or better. The NL Central and NL West each had a composite record of 80-61, followed by the AL East at 73-69. The NL East (64-79), AL Central (66-79) and AL West (66-80) all had losing records as a division. It's impressive territory for an NL Central that had four teams among MLB's 12 smallest payrolls on opening day. "There are good athletes in the NL Central. The style of play is interesting," St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "You see how collectively they play the game and where their record's at right now." Powered by Cruz and Stewart, the Cincinnati Reds lead the way with an 18-10 record. The Cubs are 1 1/2 games back, followed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in third at 16-13. The Cardinals are 15-13, and the Milwaukee Brewers are last with a 14-13 mark. Milwaukee won the division in 2025 for the third consecutive year. Chicago and Cincinnati also made the playoffs as wild cards. "We had three teams in the playoffs last year. We were the only division in the National League to have three," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "In previous years, we've never had respect. ... The (division) has been very good and last year was evidence. This year is not surprising." The Cubs signed Bregman to a $175 million, five-year contract in free agency, and the Reds and Pirates also made significant offseason additions. But the Central also has benefited from the arrival of a group of promising young hitters. Stewart, 22, leads the majors with 29 RBIs in 28 games for the Reds. Moiss Ballesteros, 22, is batting .387 in 25 games for the Cubs. Wetherholt, 23, has connected for a solo homer in each of his last three games. Griffin, who signed a $140 million, nine-year contract with Pittsburgh on April 8, is showing signs of shaking off his slow start. He hit his first career homer on his 20th birthday Friday. "A ton of young talent in the division, and I feel like that's really exciting," Bregman said. The Central also has been helped by a patient approach at the plate. The Cubs lead the National League with 130 walks, followed by the Brewers at 126 and the Reds at 119. The Pirates are fifth with 110, and the Cardinals have 103 walks so far. "It's about trying to put together quality at-bats and those are leading to walks," Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell said. "It's part of our identity, putting together quality at-bats." It remains to be seen how the standings shake out once the NL Central starts seeing more of each other. St. Louis played its first division game Monday night when it rallied for a 4-2 victory at Pittsburgh. Cincinnati, Chicago and Milwaukee have played just three division games apiece. "It's a lot of really good teams," Pirates manager Don Kelly said. "When you look at the way we got three teams into the playoffs last year and the way we've started out this year with all five teams playing good baseball, it's been a lot of fun. It's cool to see the division be so strong. There's going to be a lot of really good games." ___ AP freelance reporters Rich Rovito and Santos Perez contributed to this report. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb