NL Central

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The Chicago Cubs have spent the past few years treading water in the middle of Major League Baseball.  They haven't been going on tears, but they also haven't been at the bottom of the league.

Although this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is something that is very frustrating for Cubs fans who want to get some sort of identity out of a team that refuses to give itself one.

Action got under way quickly in Cincinnati today with back-to-back home runs to lead off the game. Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez took advantage of Edison Volquez’s mistakes as both led off the game with home runs.

The Milwaukee Brewers proceeded to pounce on the vulnerable Volquez by knocking in another run with Casey McGehee’s sacrifice fly.

These are the five reasons/ways the Pirates will make the playoffs this season.

If the Pirates make the playoffs, the city of Pittsburgh will go crazy. This is a city that is deserving of a great baseball team.

I have no doubt that if the Pirates were good, the seats would be full. They had a better attendance a year ago than the Rays, which is absurd.

A lot of Penguins fans jumped on the bandwagon of Sidney Crosby and the new-look Penguins.

I have no doubt that the same thing would happen if the Pirates were good.

At first glance the N.L. Central would seem to be a two-team race between the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers. Some people add the St. Louis Cardinals to the mix because, well, they're the St. Louis Cardinals. But most analysts seem to agree that it's between the Reds with their combination of speed, power and pitching, and the Brewers, who have one of the top offenses in baseball.

But hold on!

Brewers starting catcher Jonathan Lucroy has been cleared to start playing.

After breaking his finger during a catching drill, Lucroy had pins inserted in the finger and was out for all of the spring training playing schedule.

Last week, the pins were removed and he resumed workouts, but wasn't ready to play in a game.

Now that he's cleared, he will first go to the Brewers' Class A affiliate—the Brevard County Manatees—where he will begin his rehab assignment.

As a Reds supporter, I love talking to Cubs fans.

See, in Cincinnati, we’re used to losing. We’re familiar with the bruised, aching feeling that follows every season gone bad. We know all too well the dejection of finishing fifth or sixth in the division, with no realistic prospects of hope on the horizon.

Long before July brings the yearly whirlwind trade speculation and months before the first crop of premier prospects debut in the ides of May, there is Opening Day. This is a date that clears the slate for last year’s underachievers, the injured and the belittled, and opens the door to another year. 

Don't forget to check out The Fantasy Fix 2011 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit!

I had previously thought that Cubs manager Mike Quade didn't possess a "mean streak." I'm not talking like a Chris Brown/Mel Gibson anti-Semitic streak. Hell, I'm not even talking about the visible anger shown by the young, African-American couple in the State Farm commercial.

The St. Louis Cardinals seem like they are going to wait for a decision from Albert Pujols about his future with the ball club.

That is not a smart decision for the Cardinals. We've seen this happen before. 

Here are the top five reasons why the Cardinals should end the relationship with King Albert on their terms.

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Starting Pitchers

Heading into the season, the Cardinals rotation looked like one of the best in all of baseball. That all changed on February 24, however, when it was announced that Adam Wainwright suffered an injury that required Tommy John surgery and would sideline him for the entire season.