Best or Worst Division in Baseball

[Andy]

So does having every team in the division within 7 games of .500 make the NL Central the worst division in baseball or the best?

The argument for the worst is that no team is standout good. Almost all the teams are mediocre and under-achieving.

The argument for the best is that there is no 1 or 2 teams in the division that routinely get pummeled and hike up everyone else's record. Instead, every team could win on any given day (and do just about every other time). There are currently 5 teams within 3.0 games of first.

While some divisions, like the NL West have 1 team that's having a huge season and 2 teams having good seasons, they also have 2 clubs that are awful.
The NL East is similar to the Central, but with 1 team that's the worst in baseball.
AL West only has 4 teams (a pet peeve of mine) and still has been mediocre even with the A's playing poorly.
AL Central has 2 teams completely out of it and still no team that's very good.
The AL East has 3 very good teams, 1 good team and 1 horrible team (and is probably the best overall division).

[Ace]

It's a great question. One thing I know for sure: the Central gets all the shit, but the NL East is pretty crummy this year, too.

[veryzer]

i think the national league as a whoe is pretty crummy.

[rok]

<!--quoteo(post=47799:date=Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM:name=veryzer)-->QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->i think the national league as a whoe is pretty crummy.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aside from the Dodgers, and I think even they're a bit overrated, there isn't a single team in the NL that scares me. The league as a whole blows. The top 5 NL teams would be lucky to be in the top 10 in the AL.

[Ace]

<!--quoteo(post=47801:date=Jul 3 2009, 11:46 AM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Jul 3 2009, 11:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47799:date=Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->i think the national league as a whoe is pretty crummy.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aside from the Dodgers, and I think even they're a bit overrated, there isn't a single team in the NL that scares me. The league as a whole blows. The top 5 NL teams would be lucky to be in the top 10 in the AL.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I think there are some good teams that are underperforming. Think Phillies, Mets, and yes, Cubs.

[funkster]

I don't think very highly of the AL Central either tbh.

[rok]

<!--quoteo(post=47803:date=Jul 3 2009, 10:55 AM:name=Ace)-->QUOTE (Ace @ Jul 3 2009, 10:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47801:date=Jul 3 2009, 11:46 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Jul 3 2009, 11:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47799:date=Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->i think the national league as a whoe is pretty crummy.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aside from the Dodgers, and I think even they're a bit overrated, there isn't a single team in the NL that scares me. The league as a whole blows. The top 5 NL teams would be lucky to be in the top 10 in the AL.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I think there are some good teams that are underperforming. Think Phillies, Mets, and yes, Cubs.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe the Phillies, but they kind of played out of their minds last season, and their rotation isn't that impressive.

The Mets have a mediocre rotation as well.

All I'm saying is that the only complete ballclubs can be found in the AL.

[kbwsb]

<!--quoteo(post=47808:date=Jul 3 2009, 11:42 AM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Jul 3 2009, 11:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47803:date=Jul 3 2009, 10:55 AM:name=Ace)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ace @ Jul 3 2009, 10:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47801:date=Jul 3 2009, 11:46 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Jul 3 2009, 11:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47799:date=Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->i think the national league as a whoe is pretty crummy.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aside from the Dodgers, and I think even they're a bit overrated, there isn't a single team in the NL that scares me. The league as a whole blows. The top 5 NL teams would be lucky to be in the top 10 in the AL.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I think there are some good teams that are underperforming. Think Phillies, Mets, and yes, Cubs.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe the Phillies, but they kind of played out of their minds last season, and their rotation isn't that impressive.

The Mets have a mediocre rotation as well.

All I'm saying is that the only complete ballclubs can be found in the AL.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The AL East, to be specific.

[rok]

<!--quoteo(post=47824:date=Jul 3 2009, 01:30 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Jul 3 2009, 01:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47808:date=Jul 3 2009, 11:42 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Jul 3 2009, 11:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47803:date=Jul 3 2009, 10:55 AM:name=Ace)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ace @ Jul 3 2009, 10:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47801:date=Jul 3 2009, 11:46 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Jul 3 2009, 11:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=47799:date=Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM:name=veryzer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 3 2009, 09:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->i think the national league as a whoe is pretty crummy.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aside from the Dodgers, and I think even they're a bit overrated, there isn't a single team in the NL that scares me. The league as a whole blows. The top 5 NL teams would be lucky to be in the top 10 in the AL.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I think there are some good teams that are underperforming. Think Phillies, Mets, and yes, Cubs.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe the Phillies, but they kind of played out of their minds last season, and their rotation isn't that impressive.

The Mets have a mediocre rotation as well.

All I'm saying is that the only complete ballclubs can be found in the AL.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The AL East, to be specific.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And let me add that in the NL only the Cubs and Dodgers can be included that category of "complete" ballclubs if we play to our potential.

[Andy]

In the AL there are 3 teams I would consider complete and 1 team that's mostly there. So it's not as though the AL is that much better.

Boston, Tampa Bay and LAA are complete (with 2 of the 3 underachieving). NYY are mostly complete, but their SP is still not that great.

[rok]

<!--quoteo(post=47832:date=Jul 3 2009, 02:08 PM:name=Andy)-->QUOTE (Andy @ Jul 3 2009, 02:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->In the AL there are 3 teams I would consider complete and 1 team that's mostly there. So it's not as though the AL is that much better.

Boston, Tampa Bay and LAA are complete (with 2 of the 3 underachieving). NYY are mostly complete, but their SP is still not that great.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If the Yanks play to their potential, I would definitely add them to the list. Plus there are a bunch of mid-to-upper-tier level teams in the AL (Tigers, Sox, Twins, Toronto, Texas, etc) who are probably as good if not better than the upper echelon of the NL even at full strength.

[Kid]

It's just a bad division so far because of the Cubs' underachieving. The other teams (except Pittsburgh) all fit somewhere between mediocre and decent but nothing special. They're all performing how they should have given their talent, essentially. If the Cubs hadn't massively underperformed, we'd lead the division probably by 8-10 games right now. If that was the case, there'd be no discussion of the NL Central as a "good" division top-to-bottom.