The NL Central is the Best Race in Baseball

With lest than 20 game in the 2013 baseball season to play the best race going is the NL Central. When you look around the National League most of the races are really over. The LA Dodgers have an 11 game lead on Arizona and Atlanta has a 12 game lead over Washington. The NL Central is a three-team race separated by just 1.5 games.

The Cincinnati Reds

The Reds are 82-62 on the season and are just 1.5 games behind the Cardinals. They have 18 games left including six games against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Reds will play 10 homes games with 8 on the road and the average winning percentage of their opponents is .464.
They also have the best record in the National League over the last ten games at 7-3, including winning their last four games.
The Reds are a good team and will be a tough out in the playoffs this year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates are 81-61 on the season and are 1.5 games behind the Cardinals. They have 20 games left with 11 at home and 9 on the road. The average winning percentage of their opponents is .502 and they have lost their last 4 games and are 4-6 over the last 10 games.
They kick off a tough three game series in Texas tonight. Then they play the Reds six times with the last three in Cincinnati.
The Pirates haven’t made the playoffs in 20 years and will need to pick up their play if they want to change that fact.

The St. Louis Cardinals

The Cards are 83-60 on the season and are in first place in the Central. They also have the best offense in the Nation League scoring 688 runs this season. They have 19 games left with 12 at home and 7 on the road. Their opponents winning percentage is .454 and are in the driver seat in the division.
Whichever one of these teams win the central the second place team will be the wildcard. I expect the race to come down to the last couple of games. The hunt of October is on and the best race in baseball is the three-team battle in the Nation League Central.