NL Central

Albert Pujols did everything he could possibly do and then some to try to get the St. Louis Cardinals to the playoffs.  But, with the Cincinnati Reds preparing for October, something clearly went wrong.  The Cardinals came into the 2010 season with World Series aspirations, but now they will have to settle for watching it on TV.

Pujols did have some help this year.  Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, and Matt Holiday all deserve credit for having excellent years.

It was announced that Altoona Manager Matt Walbeck would not be brought back for the 2011 season, just weeks after leading the Curve to the Eastern League Championship.  Walbeck also was voted Manager of the Year in the Eastern League, which makes the move surprising.

The Pirates haven't released all of the details on the move, but it is known that Walbeck was looking to be promoted to AAA or the MLB level after his successful run in AA.  The Pirates weren't willing to create a spot for him, so they parted ways.

How good has Cubs closer Carlos Marmol been this season? Historically good. 

Outstanding rookie Mike Leake will not be a part of his team as they make their first playoff appearance in 15 years.

This is from the Cincinnati Reds Team Report on Yahoo! Sports:

I wrote Its Getting Hot in Here, So Take Off All Your Clothes back in May. I was laughed at, ridiculed and told to cut back on the drinking (or smoking) because it was messing with my head. But I was just fed up and could not take watching awful baseball anymore.

Before my head gets too big and explodes, though, I have just a few things to back up my proud smile today.

Jay Bruce and Joey Votto are not yet household names among baseball fans. Soon, they will be.

In about a week's time the Cincinnati Reds will be playing in the National League playoffs for the first time in 15 years as the 2010 NL Central Division champions.

Congratulations to the Cincinnati Reds for winning the National League Central and advancing to the postseason for the first time since 1995.

The Reds are one of baseball’s young, up-and-coming teams with tons of future superstars in Joey Votto and Aroldis Chapman.

They have excellent veteran leaders in Scott Rolen, Orlando Cabrera, and Brandon Phillips.  Cincinnati's manager is also one of the game’s best in Dusty Baker.

With back-to-back wins against the San Diego Padres this week, the Chicago Cubs are now 21-11 under interim manager Mike Quade.

The impetus for this resurgence has been the team's much-improved starting rotation: Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, and Randy Wells have combined to win 13 times during the span, and Zambrano is 6-0 under Quade.

The final chapter hasn't been written on the 2010 baseball season, but as a relatively young Reds fan who doesn't have strong memories of the last successful teams, it has already been a banner year.

For years, baseball was always about watching people on other teams perform in the big moment.

Other fanbases collected treasured memories, whereas we just got the occasional June walkoff home run, and Wily Tavares.

Dusty Baker said, "We were hoping to celebrate here. It's better to do it at home, in front of the home people."

Jay Bruce tanked the rest of the NL Central with a solo-shot over Great America Ball Park's deep center field wall.  Quite fitting for a team that has rubber stamped this season on last at-bat heroics.

The home run came on the first pitch from tough lefty Tim Byrdek.