Weak NL Central?

[Frankfan4life]

One of the things the media used to dampen the spirits of White Sox fans last year when they were in first place was to call the AL Central a "weak division." I wish I had a dime for everytime I heard that. Even though for most of the year the NL Central was not much better. I know there was a lot of debate about this last year so I just want to know if after comparing the current standings to last year's at approximately the same time, should the NL Central be called a weak division in 2005?

2004 AL Central
Minnesota 22-13 .629 ----
Chi. White Sox 19-16 .543 3.0
Detroit 17-19 .472 5.5
Cleveland 16-19 .457 6.0
Kansas City 11-23 .324 10.5

2004 NL Central
Houston 22-14 .611 ----
Chi Cubs 21-15 .583 1.0
St Louis 20-17 .541 2.5
Cincinnati 9-17 .528 3.0
Milwaukee 18-18 .500 4.0
Pittsburgh 16-18 .471 5.0

2005 AL Central
Chi. White Sox 30-12 .714 ----
Minnesota 24-16 .600 5.0
Detroit 19-21 .475 10.0
Cleveland 17-23 .425 12.0
Kansas City 12-30 .286 18.0

2005 NL Central
St. Louis 26-15 .634 ----
Milwaukee 19-22 .463 7.0
Chi. Cubs 18-21 .462 7.0
Pittsburgh 18-21 .462 7.0
Cincinnati 15-26 .366 11.0
Houston 15-26 .366 11.0

[LuvSox]

Yes, very weak. 5 teams below .500, including the mighty Cubbie.

[Cowhead418]

I told a Flub fan the other day that the Cubs are still below .500 in the weakest division in baseball and with the easiest schedule in all of baseball thus far (well maybe not the easiest after this series cause they had to play us.:wink: ) He immediately shouted "What are you smoking? You must be on pot. The AL Central is by FAR the weakest division. The NL Central is the best division. The Astros, Cubbies and Cardinals are amazing. The Brewers are awesome too." Yeah, because the last place Astros, 18-21 Cubbies are so amazing. The AL Central is weak too. They only have 4 of the top 5 team ERA's in the AL.:rolleyes:

[Rocklive99]

Not to mention that the AL Central teams also have to play against the rest of the AL (Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, etc), and while they have the Braves, there is no one else real scary than the Cardinals, and teams like the Mets or Giants that the media hypes up are a joke. I think interleague will show that the AL is stronger, so there is no way that you can say that the AL Central is weaker than the NL Central.

[Frankfan4life]

Yes, very weak. 5 teams below .500, including the mighty Cubbie.Yeah, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the media, especially the Chicago media, to start refering to the NL Central as the "Weak" NL Central like they did practically all last year when they referred to the AL Central.

[White Sox Josh]

The NL Central is the weakest division in baseball. Excluding the Cards there combined record against the other NL divisions is way below .500. There is only one contender in that division and it is the Cardinals. The AL Central has a good chance at having the Wild Card this year since those Damn Twins aren't going away anytime soon.