Todd Brommelkamp/1600 ESPN
We’re roughly a month away from the start of the 2024 Major League Baseball season (less than that if you want to count the two-game series in Korea between the Dodgers and Padres March 20 & 21) and with the recently expanded postseason there are plenty of teams with reason for optimism in 2024.
How many of those teams call the National League Central home?
First, let’s define the expectations.
No matter what Tom Ricketts, the face of the Chicago Cubs’ ownership, tries to tell you, finishing slightly better than .500 and making the postseason isn’t a success. The fact the Arizona Diamondbacks won 84 games and reached the World Series last year is a nice story but one that shouldn’t give teams a free pass to embracing mediocrity.
Can the Cubs win the Central?
They better.
As of this writing, ESPN Bet lists both the Cubs and Cardinals at +175 odds to win the division, with Cincinnati a +360 dark horse. Milwaukee (+650) and Pittsburgh (+1800) face longer odds at the onset of the 2024 campaign.
What’s interesting to note is ESPN Bet also offers preseason win totals on MLB teams and the Cardinals (85.5) have a higher total than the Cubs (83.5).
Chicago made a splash this offseason by hiring Craig Counsell away from the Brewers, jettisoning David Ross in favor of a skipper with a tremendous record in 1-run ballgames. Milwaukee was 29-18 in games decided by a single run last season, the Cubs finished with one fewer victory than the Diamondbacks.
Additionally, the front office also opened up the checkbook for Japanese import Shota Imonaga, made a low-key great acquisition in young Dodgers infielder Michael Bush and, most recently, brought back Cody Bellinger on a 3-year deal that stopped short of breaking the bank.
That should be enough to get the Cubs across the finish line in 2024, especially if the team continues to get contributions from the homegrown talents on the roster and those waiting in the minors.
The Reds were 82-80 in 2023 and boast some exciting young talent, but miserly ownership isn’t going to spend to improve the team this close to the start of the season.
The Cardinals took steps to improve their rotation but don’t appear to have done much else to better a team that won 71 games last summer.
The Brewers traded ace Corbin Burnes before Spring Training and bringing in first baseman Rhys Hoskins doesn’t exactly move the needle unless the former Phillies slugger truly bounces back from a torn ACL that cost him almost all of last year.
And, hey, the Pirates have Cedar Rapids native Mitch Keller and one of the prettiest ballparks in the game but no chance of competing in the division anytime soon.
The major question facing the Cubs this season is how the front office will handle in-season improvements, be it in the form of call-ups from Des Moines or an acquisition or two at the trade deadline. That may truly be the key to winning the division in a nail-biter or walking away with things like the Dodgers did in the NL West a year ago.
That Los Angeles team won 100 games and bested its closest divisional rival by 16 games.
Who finished behind the Dodgers with 84 wins? That would be the Diamondbacks.
One of those teams reached the World Series, the other did not.
There’s no law that says you can’t win both a ton of games and go to the World Series.
The Cubs open the 2024 season March 28 in Arlington, Texas, against the defending World Champion Texas Rangers.
Todd Brommelkamp is the host of “The Todd Brommelkamp Show” and can be heard weekday mornings on 1600 ESPN from 6:30-9:00 AM.
