NL Central

(Warning: Video contains NSFW language.)

The St. Louis Cardinals hosted the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, and before the game was even over, we knew who the MVP was.

Some random dude who ran onto the field.

One month through the season, expectations are as high as ever on the North Side of Chicago. The Cubs are looking like a competitive team, and that's a breath of fresh air for baseball in the Windy City.

While it's still early, here are five takeaways from the beginning of the 2015 season for the Cubs.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped their third straight game via walk-off fashion Sunday afternoon as Kolten Wong's solo shot in the bottom of the 14th inning led the St. Louis Cardinals to the weekend series sweep. 

The Cincinnati Reds put starting pitcher Homer Bailey on the disabled list due to a ligament strain in his pitching elbow.

Continue for updates.

For the first time in a very long time, the Cubs were active in free agency and the trade market (from the buying end) this offseason. That meant a lot of roster turnover and a lot of questions going into this season.

Some of those questions have begun to be answered, while others remain unanswered. Whatever the case may be, here are grades through the first two-and-a-half weeks of the season for the team's seven key new additions for 2015.

Most reasonable baseball fans would think an article debating panic or patience in April is a little forward, if not plain aggressive. But if it's late enough for a pregame manager meltdown with the press, perhaps it's late enough to wonder aloud about a few struggling players on the Cincinnati Reds.

The Chicago Cubs aren’t messing around.

The 2015 season is starting much like the 2013 season did for the Milwaukee Brewers, and that's light years from good.

Kicking off the 2015 season with a franchise-worst 2-11 record, the Milwaukee Brewers may find themselves out of contention even faster then the 2013 squad, which was basically out of the race before June.

The Brewers did lead their division for a good portion of the year in 2014, but they have now sandwiched futility around that one bright spot.

Jonathan Lucroy suffered a foot injury against the Reds. Martin Maldonado replaced him at catcher. The injury is expected him to sideline him four-six weeks after the ailment occurred. 

Continue for updates.

Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett injured himself in just about the most bizarre way possible Sunday, cutting his hand in the shower after the team's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Continue for updates.