The National League Central Is Tight Going Into The All-Star Break.

The National League Central Is Tight That All The Teams In The Division Are On Separated By 3 1/2 Games And Yes Even The Cincinnati Reds Have a Shot At Winning The Division At The Moment. And If You Don't Believe Me On The Reds I Will Prove It To You.

What Happened Today That Has The Division So Tight, I Will Lay It All For.

Chicago Cubs Vs Pittsburgh Pirates.

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Cubs Beat The Pittsburgh Pirates 11-3 At PNC Park Today. The Game Also Featured Cubs Manager Joe Maddon Getting Ejected By Home Plate Umpire Joe West. Maddon Got Ejected When Pirates Starting Pitcher Jordan Lyles Threw At Javier Baez In The Fourth Inning And Maddon Took Exception And Wanted a Piece Of Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle. Maddon Had To Watch The Rest Of The Game From The Clubhouse. Then In The Next Inning David Bote Gets Drilled In The Head By Lyles. That Was What Prompted Joe West To Issue Warnings To Both Teams. The Cubs Won The Game.

Now As Far As The Cubs Go As a Whole. In My Opinion Joe Maddon Had To Fire Up The Team Today Because Keep In Mind The Cubs Were 8-15 And They Had Lost The Lost 5-Of-6 Games And They Could Have Been Swept By The Pittsburgh Pirates And That Would Have Looked Bad. Milwaukee Brewers Vs Cincinnati Reds

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Spors

The Reds Shutout The Brewers 1-0 On The 4th Of July. Reds Pitcher Luis Castillo Took a No-Hitter Into The Seventh At Great American Ballpark. Castillo Had One Walk And Nine Strikeouts As The Reds Took 3-Of-4 Form The Brewers. Yasiel Puig Had The Only Offense As He Had The Only RBI Of The Game And What About Phillip Ervin. He Made The Game Saving Catch In Foul Territory To Keep The Reds In The Winning Graces. But As Far As Luis Castillo Goes He's The Best Pitcher For The Reds, He's 8-3 With a 2.29 ERA Only Behind Hyun-Jim Ryu Of The Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds ERA As a Team Is 2nd Best In The National League With 3.58 ERA. This Is Why The Reds Are Still In Contention In The Division Despite Being Dead Last.

St Louis Cardinals Vs Seattle Mariners

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The St Louis Cardinals Got a Huge 5-4 Victory Over The Seattle Mariners On Thursday. They Also 1 Game Over .500 And Are Still In Contention. Cardinals Manager Mike Shildt Said We Had To Work On Our Offensive Production. And The Cardinals Had It Today. However Cardinals Manager Had To Watch The Last 5 2/3 Innings From The Clubhouse After Getting Ejected By Homeplate Umpire Rob Drake For Arguing And That's What Led The Cardinals To This Huge Victory. Matt Wieters Had a Solo Home Run, Dexter Fowler Had a Two Run Shot, And Tommy Edman Had a Two Run Single That Gave The Cardinals a Sweep Of The Mariners.

Have The Cardinals Finally Turned The Corner, Back In June The Cardinals Only Scored 92 Runs, 2nd Worst In The League, And They Had Only 26 Home Runs And That Ranked 26th In Major League Baseball. The Cardinals Were Only 9-18 In May But they Improved To 13-13 In June. Can The Cardinals Have a Great 2nd Half We Will Have to What And See, However This Is a Good Start.

The NL Central Standings Going Into The Weekend Look Like This.

1. CHC 46-42

2. MIL 46-42

3. STL 43-42 1 1/2

4. PIT 42-44 3

5. CIN 41-44 3 1/2

So Now Here's My Take...

The National League Central Is So Tight I Don't Know What's Going to Happen One Day To The Next. The Pirates Took 3-Of-4 From The Cubs. It Took Joe Maddon Almost Getting His Hands On Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle To Fire Up The Troops. The Cubs Had Lost 5 Of Their Last 6 Games And They Got Outscored Badly In Pittsburgh. The Cubs Have The Battle Of Chicago As They Face The White Sox At Wrigley And The Cubs Will Be Glad To Be Home Because They Are Only 16-26 On The Road This Season.

The Brewers Face The Pirates In a Three Game Set. The Pirates Are Feeling Positive Despite Losing Today, But Hey They Did Take 3 Out Of 4 From The Cubs And They Did Do A lot Of Damage To The Cubs In The Four Game Set. The Brewers On The Other Hand Lost 3 Out Of 4 Against The Reds. The Brewers Bats Were Quiet On Thursday And The Brewers Did Not Have Anything. Christian Yelich And Mike Moustakas Need To Wake Up The Brewers Bats Now.

The Reds Face The Cleveland Indians In The Battle Of Ohio. The Reds Are Feeling Good After Taking 3-Of-4 From The Brewers. Can The Reds Keep Up Their Winning Ways. Yasiel Puig Said After The Game, " The Reds Are Playing Great And I Know Our Record Does Not Show It But We Took Three Big Games From The Top Dawg In The Division. However The Reds Need To Listen To This And This Goes For All Reds Fans. The Cleveland Indians Are 20-9 Since June 1st. They Are Playing Much Better And They Are Only Six Games Back Of The Minnesota Twins. That's The Closets The Indians Have Been To The Twins Since May 20th. So The Reds Might Be In For a Battle When We Getting Ready For The Battle Of Ohio.

The St Louis Cardinals Face The San Francisco Giants. The Giants Are So Far Out Of It They Might As Well Wave The White Flag Of Surrender. The Cardinals Just Swept The Seattle Mariners. If The Cardinals Get Red Hot In July Lookout Because They Cardinals Could Be The Team To Beat. Dexter Fowler Provided a Huge Spark Along With Tommy Edman. So Do Not Count The Cardinals Out Just Yet.

Oh Yeah, Just One More Thing. Joe West Was Behind The Plate For The Cubs-Pirates Game. HEY JOE WEST, MR. OLD FAT AND GRUMPY, WHY DON'T YOU JUST DO ALL OF US A FAVOR AND SHUT UP AND RETIRE AND GO AWAY!!!!!!!!.