Milwaukee Brewers: NL Central Preview and Predictions

The Milwaukee Brewers' 2022 season starts on Thursday. The rosters for each team are set and the players that each have will be the ones they roll with into the season. For the second year in a row, the NL Central is projected to be one of the worst divisions in baseball.

The Pirates are coming off a season in which they went 61-101. They had a total run differential of -224. Bryan Reynolds is a dark-horse MVP candidate. Ke'Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz are exciting young players to watch out for. The Pirates will struggle to improve their roster after the trade deadline. PECOTA projects them to finish 66-96.

The Reds made some changes to their team this year. They traded away Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suárez and Nick Castellanos and let Nick Winger walk. FanGraphs projects that the Reds will have 17.7 batting WAR this season. The Reds are expected to have a middle-of-the-pack pitching staff. Hunter Greene is Fan Graphs' no. 32 prospect and MLB.com's no 22 prospect.

The Cubs were tied for first place in the NL Central on June 24th. They lost 11 games in a row from June 25th to July 6th and were out of playoff contention. The team traded away the franchise cornerstones Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez. Seiya Suzuki is coming from Japan. Marcus Stroman and Kyle Hendricks are expected to have a high strikeout season.

The Cardinals finished the 2021 season 90-72. They lost to the Dodgers in the Wild Card game. In 2022 they return the same core with Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. The team has one of the best infields in baseball and Harrison Bader is one the the league's best outfielders. Tyler O'Neill is coming off the season with 34 home runs and an OPS of .912. Their pitching is shaky, with Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, Adam Wainwright and Steven Matz all getting older.

The Milwaukee Brewers won the NL Central title in May. The team lost Avisaíl García and replaced him with Hunter Renfroe. Andrew McCutchen is the only significant addition to the offense. PECOTA projects the Brewers to finish with 93-69 wins. The pitching staff is one of the best in the league, led by Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta.

The NL Central is not the best division, but it will still be entertaining to watch. The division should come down to the Cardinals and the Brewers.