It worked for Milwaukee last year. For only the second time since the Brewers joined the NL Central in 1998, they have finished ahead of the Cardinals in consecutive seasons. They’ve never done that in three consecutive years. The NL Central turns 25 this season and before the Cubs’ coup of 2016, St. Louis was the division’s Gateway to October.
That’s chiefly because since 2012 every team in the division has appeared at least once in the playoffs, and because it is the only division in baseball this year that does not have a team advertising its disinterest in the standings.