You Were Supposed to be Bad!

Current Standings in the NL Central:

1. Reds
2. Cardinals
3. Cubs

No, no, NO NO NO NO. NOT THIS. NOT RIGHT NOW.

Look, on one hand, the division's a relatively close race, and three teams are within reach of stopping the Reds from first. But on the other hand...I don't think having the Cardinals ahead of the Cubs in the standings, even briefly, was something I was planning on coping with this year. Especially considering that this is a scaled-back, skeleton crew of a Cards team.

The Reds' success I can understand, as the kids are hitting and the team's rebuilding. The Cubs falling back I can understand, as they've been losing this series to the red-hot New York Yankees. Even the Brewers heading up I can understand, as Eric Thames is powering that team singlehandedly. But...the Cardinals shouldn't be doing this well.

Matt Carpenter, Mike Leake, Jedd Gyorko and Lance Lynn are the ones that are doing well. Everyone else is just merely okay, and trying their best to remain relevant. The guys people were parading about last year, like Aledmys Diaz, Stephen Piscotty and Carlos Martinez, aren't having great years so far. It's a mixed bag disguising itself as a sure thing, and...we already had that for two years in Toronto.

I'm merely commenting on how it is currently, not how it will be; the standings could fix themselves and I could be far off here, but...I'd really like the Cardinals to stay out of this one. They've got some talent, but I don't think it's enough to contend.

Coming Tonight: From the category of 'shouldn't be doing as well as it is', a young pitcher for a rebuilding team wows the league.