NL Central

It's been 107 years since the last time the Chicago Cubs were at the summit of the baseball world, but if you look around the diamond when they're on the field, you'll see a core group with the potential to end the curse.

Over the past several seasons, Cubs fans couldn't help but focus on their farm system, if nothing else to get their minds off of the lackluster product at the major league level. Now that the Cubs are competitive, their minor league system has slipped back into the background.

However, continuing to churn out young talent in the farm system is extremely important, and the Cubs still have a number of talented young players getting ready to move to Chicago.

At this juncture, the Cincinnati Reds have no idea what they're going to do at the deadline.

They're 18-17, 6.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central and just a half game behind the final wild card spot. That makes it particularly challenging for the Reds' brass to decide what to do with this roster at such a pivotal fork in the road, one where the Reds and ace Johnny Cueto probably part ways.

Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips left Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves with a big toe injury.

Continue for updates.

Few players in baseball have been more consistently MVP-worthy over the past handful of seasons than Andrew McCutchen. Yet more than a month into 2015, the Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder, who has three straight top-three NL MVP finishes—including the 2013 trophy—has looked nothing like his usual MVP-caliber self.

Thank god the NL Central is a weak division.

Despite being just a .500 ballclub through their first 30 games, the Chicago Cubs find themselves in second place in the division and 6.5 games behind the strongest team in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Chicago Cubs have hit a rough patch over the past week or so, but they're still right around the .500 mark. That's better than they've been in the past seven years or so, and it's thanks to several improvements the team has already made in 2015.

While they still have plenty to work on if they want to be playing long into October this year, here are five things the Cubs have already managed to improve in 2015.

When Cincinnati Reds star Joey Votto bumped umpire Chris Conroy during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, it was only a matter of time before Major League Baseball took action.

Expectations poured down on Gerrit Cole unlike few Major League Baseball draftees before him. 

That tends to happen when you have a triple-digit fastball, are picked first overall and sign for an $8 million bonus, the highest ever in MLB draft history.

The only job that followed for Cole was living up to the hype. Billing it was the easy part. Fulfilling it, that would take some professional seasoning.

Based on your general disposition, you see the Cincinnati Reds in one of the two following lights: They're a team at or floating around .500 with baseball's worst OBP and worst bullpen ERA, or they're a team at .500 and tied for the remaining wild-card slot.

History suggests Reds owner Bob Castellini will see the latter. He's a competitive soul, so long as the Reds can sniff a playoff spot, don't expect them to sell.