The National League Central Has Clearly Been the Best Division in Baseball This Year

Now that every Major League Baseball team is at least 45 games into the 2026 season, there is a better feel for which teams are good, bad, and average. Based on the games played and the stats on hand, the National League Central is the best division in baseball. The Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cincinnati Reds have collectively been better than any other division’s teams this season. Several different measurements prove this claim to be true.

The Statistics That Back Up The Claim

Teams in the NL Central have won 29 more games than they have lost this season. The next-best division by win-loss record is the American League East, whose teams are only seven games over .500. In fact, the NL Central is the only division in the MLB where all of the teams have a winning record.

In addition to their superior win-loss records, the NL Central also leads all divisions in run differential. The division has collectively scored 89 more runs than it has allowed. The next closest is the NL East at plus 39 runs. Four out of the five NL Central teams currently have a positive run differential, with the Reds as the only outlier. All other divisions have at least three teams that have allowed more runs than they have scored.

What Accounts For The NL Central Being Baseball’s Best Division?

The team that presently sits at the top of the NL Central, the Chicago Cubs, does not have the best or even the second-best record in the game. So, the elite status of the division isn’t sustained by a singular juggernaut elevating their collective numbers. Rather, it’s the fact that there isn’t a truly bad team (or teams) that drag down the NL Central’s overall performance. It is this absence of a true “cellar dweller” that enables their claim as the game’s best division.

National League Central, Reds, Brewers, Elly De La Cruz

The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees sit atop the American League East with the best records in the AL, but the three other teams in that division all have losing records. In the AL Central, only the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox have records over .500, and only Cleveland has a positive run differential. No team in the AL West currently has a winning record.

The NL East’s Atlanta Braves have the best record in all of baseball, but the Philadelphia Phillies are the division’s only other team that is (barely) over .500. The NL West has the defending champion Dodgers playing well and the San Diego Padres hot on their heels, but none of its other three teams have a winning record.

The NL Central Going Forward

As you might expect, things are extremely tight in the NL Central. The Cubs currently lead in the standings despite dealing with several significant injuries to their pitching staff. One and a half games back, there are both the Brewers and Cardinals. Milwaukee is coming off a season where they made the NLCS.

The Cardinals have been called the biggest surprise team of the 2026 season so far. Tied at the bottom of the standings, five games back of the lead, are the Pirates and Reds. Despite being only one game over .500, Pittsburgh has a +18-run differential. Cincinnati has looked like the worst team in the division, but still currently owns a 24-23 record overall.

Without as much flash as many other teams around the league, the NL Central has quietly put together a solid collection of ball clubs. The absence of a truly bad team means that there’s no one to beat up on so that a better division rival can achieve easy wins. This also means that it’s unlikely that one team will simply run away with the division title as the season goes on. All in all, baseball’s best division could end up being its most compelling.