NL Central

Thanks for checking out the third installment of "The Long Road of October". In case you haven't read them, check out Part One and Part Two to see how the Cubbies have progressed throughout the 2009 season thus far.

Through 82 games, I have the Cubs record at 47-35. How will the Cubs close out the first half? Will the team suffer throughout the dog days of summer? Lets find out!

With baseball season right around the corner, it’s time to revisit the glory that is the Cardinals fan. We join Matt Sebek’s October, 2007 column in progress…

On Tuesday morning, 22 groups of collective baseball fan bases will have months to ponder the season that was 2007. For some fans, 2007 was a rebuilding process and a promising sign of things to come in 2008. For others, it was a complete disaster.

This is easily the best prediction for the NL Central I have encountered so far. Here is what he has for Houston and where each team will finish:

Houston Astros

It was a bad day on the mound today for the Astros. From astros.com:

'Stros at the plate: “Kazuo Matsui went 3-for-3 with a double,a run scored, and an RBI, and Hunter Pence went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Edwin Maysonet hit a solo home run to left field off of right-hander Chad Durbin in the sixth inning.”

Saturday, I wrote an article comparing the Cubs infield to the rest of the NL Central. This article will compare the Cubbies' outfield against their divisional foes.

A little side note, I'm using the MLB.com team depth charts as my source as to who the starting outfielders will be.

Although there's a good chance Reed Johnson and Kosuke Fukudome will platoon in center field, the Cubs.com depth chart has Fukudome listed ahead of Johnson as of March 29.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Slezak wrote an article in Sunday's newspaper titled Bad-neighbor Policy at Work. Her main premise is that the Chicago Cubs "disregard responsibility to the community (by hosting) concerts (and wanting) more night games."

Well I say tough baseballs, Ms. Slezak. If you want the benefits of living around Wrigley Field, you have to accept the good with the bad.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Sunday afternoon that Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Piniella has formally chosen Kevin Gregg as his closer to start the 2009 season.

This leaves Carlos Marmol as the setup man, a role in which he earned a trip to the All-Star Game last season.

Gregg was acquired in a trade for pitching prospect Jose Ceda earlier this winter, and has had a dominating spring camp in Arizona. In nine games, Gregg has 8.1 innings pitched, one win, ten strikeouts and zero earned runs allowed added to no losses and just two walks.

The Reds' only All-Star representative, Edinson Volquez, dominated once again as he helped Cincinnati beat the American League Champion Rays

Volquez pitched five innings and gave up his first run of the spring, but only let up one earned run while striking out three, walking four and allowing only four hits. Volquez has very low ERA of 0.47 and his record is 2-0 for the spring.

2009 marks the 40th Anniversary of the Milwaukee Brewers in the MLB, as they moved from Seattle to the Brew City in prior to the 1970 season.

So I thought that I would share what I consider the top 10 moments in Brewers' history.

Now, I haven't been around since 1970, so I haven't seen (but I know about) every single thing about Brewers baseball, but I think all fans remember these moments vividly.

Here's to the 40 years of Brewers baseball, and hopefully 40 more.

After two years of playoff disappointment, the Chicago Cubs are gearing up for another World Series run. The Cubs are the most balanced team in the NL, if not, in all of baseball.

Last year as a team, the Cubs batted .278 and had and on-base-percentage of .354. As a staff, the Cubs had a 3.87 ERA.  All of these stratistics lead to them winning the NL Central for the second season in a row.  Here is a closer look at each of the positions for the Chicago Cubs.

Catcher