JUPITER, Fla. • A laughingstock no more, the National League Central Division has established itself as the premier, most competitive division in the league. By far.
For example, in the last seven league championship series, the Central Division has been represented every year, four times by the Cardinals from 2011-14 and three times by the Chicago Cubs from 2015-17.
In the 23 years the Central Division has been involved in the league playoffs, 18 divisional teams have made the NLCS, compared to 15 for the NL East and 13 for the NL West. But the NL East total is even a bit misleading because the Atlanta Braves were in eight straight league championship series from 1991-99, with the final five of those coming when there were three divisions in the league.