Which NL Central Contender Has the Best Rotation?

About five weeks remain between now and the end of the 2025 regular season and six National League teams find themselves within 5.5 games of a playoff spot. Half of those teams reside in the NL Central.

The Milwaukee Brewers have the most secure spot at the moment as they lead all of baseball with an 81-49 record. They are trailed by the Chicago Cubs, who lead the Wild Card race at 75-55.

In third and fourth are the 67-63 Cincinnati Reds and 64-66 St. Louis Cardinals, respectively. They are currently just outside of the playoff picture looking in, with the former 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot and the latter 5.5 games behind.

For teams that do end up making it into the playoffs, one quality that helps teams attempt to make a deep run is a strong rotation. Having that starting pitcher set the tone by limiting the opposition allows the offense to try and grab that early lead and never let it go.

The NL Central is home to some of the strongest starting rotations in all of baseball, but which team’s group is the best? Here we’ll take a look at how the rotations for these four teams rank, and which one comes out on top.

4. St. Louis Cardinals

If there’s one contender whose starting rotation has set themselves apart from the pack it’s definitely the Cardinals. But that’s not in a good way.

Cardinals starters have combined for the fifth worst ERA in MLB for the 2025 season at 4.74. Their combined 18% strikeout rate is second worst, above only the lowly Rockies. When looking up and down the rotation, it’s not hard to see why.

Not a single starter on the team has an ERA under 4.00 on the season. Ace Sonny Gray (12-6, 4.33 ERA) is having arguably is least productive season since 2018, his final forgettable season with the New York Yankees.

Youngsters Matthew Liberatore (6-10, 4.13 ERA) and Michael McGreevy (5-2, 4.42 ERA) have been similarly average while Miles Mikolas (6-10, 5.17 ERA) and Andre Pallante (6-11, 5.17 ERA) have been closer to bad.

Erick Fedde was one of the most desired arms at last year’s trade deadline in the middle of his bounceback season. But he performed so poorly (3-10, 5.22 ERA) that the Cardinals designated him for assignment in July.

St. Louis is easily within striking distance of a playoff spot if things go right for them down the stretch. But without better starting pitching, their postseason stay likely wouldn’t last very long.

3. Cincinnati Reds

After a couple years where it seemed like their young core might help return the team to the playoffs only to fall short, the Reds are right on the verge of finally making it happen. And their strong rotation has had a lot to do with it.

Reds starters have the eighth-best starters ERA on the season at 3.77 and the second highest fWAR at 13.6. They’ve been exceptionally strong since the All-Star break with their combined ERA down to 3.45 (third in MLB), which is what has helped them soar back into the Wild Card race.

The Reds have been led this year by an excellent tandem of All-Star Andrew Abbott (8-4, 2.62 ERA) and Hunter Greene (5-3, 2.63 ERA) who has been limited to 13 starts due to injury. Nick Lodolo (8-6, 3.03 ERA) is also having a career year in his fourth MLB season.

Cincy has gotten more mild production from their fourth and fifth spots, though. Brady Singer, acquired from the Royals in the offseason for former NL Rookie of the Year Jonathan India, has been okay (11-9, 4.18 ERA) but likely not quite what they were hoping for.

Nick Martinez (10-9, 4.64 ERA as a starter) lost his spot in the rotation when the Reds picked up Zack Littell from the Rays at the deadline. Littell has provided a bit better production at 1-0 with a 3.92 ERA in four starts for Cincy.

What’s good for the Reds is that starting rotations shorten in the postseason, meaning they’d mostly only have to rely on their top guns. That could make them dangerous to other NL teams in a series format like they have in the playoffs.

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2. Chicago Cubs

If not for a huge loss at the beginning of the season, the Cubs might have surprised some by being first on this list at this point in the season. But alas, ace Justin Steele made it just four games into the season before an elbow surgery shut him down for the year.

Yet Chicago’s rotation has still managed to be a net positive for them on the season. They are tied for seventh on the season with a 3.77 ERA and are actually the best group since the All-Star break with a 2.92 ERA.

With Steele out, offseason grab Matthew Boyd has done an amazing job stepping into the ace role. At age 34, he’s in the midst of the best season of his career with a 12-6 record, 2.61 ERA, and 1.041 WHIP.

Sophomore Shota Imanaga (8-6, 3.03 ERA) and rookie Cade Horton (8-4, 2.88 ERA) have both been excellent behind Boyd as well. And though the results aren’t usually flashy, Colin Rea (10-5, 3.96 ERA) and his 0.8 fWAR continue to get the job done.

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Jameson Taillon recently returned from the injured list to rejoin the rotation. He had an up and down first couple seasons with the Cubs and has settled down somewhere in the middle here in 2025 (8-6, 4.26 ERA).

Like the Reds, the Cubs are also quite top heavy in their rotation. Assuming their top 3-4 starters paired with a strong offense is a sight no team wants to see in the playoffs.

1. Milwaukee Brewers

The way the season started with so many starters injured, few might have predicted the Brewers would top this list despite their strong track record of success in the rotation. Yet they persevered and here they are, their rotation giving teams fits once again.

14 different pitchers have started a game for Milwaukee in 2025 (albeit, some as “openers”). And yet, they are one point out of the MLB lead in starter’s ERA (Rangers) at 3.40. They also blow away the competition with a 23.4% strikeout rate that is fifth in MLB and second in the NL.

In his second year as ace, Freddy Peralta has shined, with a league-leading 15 wins and a 2.68 ERA. He also made the second All-Star game of his career and is holding opposing batters to just a .195 batting average, third-best among qualified starters.

He has had some excellent backup this year. Former ace Brandon Woodruff has returned from a nearly season and a half absence due to a shoulder injury to post a 4-1 record with a 2.47 ERA in eight starts since coming back.

Quinn Priester (11-2, 3.44 ERA), who was acquired early this season when the injuries started piling up, was turned around by the Brewers and leads the league in win percentage. Meanwhile, Jose Quintana (10-4, 3.32 ERA) continues to defy Father Time at age 36.

At the end of the rotation is top pitching prospect, Jacob Misiorowski. He currently sits at 4-2 and a 4.19 ERA, but has some of the nastiest stuff in the league and has outdueled the likes of Skenes, Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray, and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw.

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What also makes the Brewers rotation the best in the division is its depth. If someone goes down, they could tap into other starters like Chad Patrick (3-8, 3.61 ERA), who was at one point a NL Rookie of the Year candidate, or Logan Henderson (3-0, 1.78 ERA), who has made just five starts but has already solidified himself as a key part of the rotation’s future.

There should be little doubt that at least a couple of these rotations will end up leading their teams into the postseason in 2025. What they do once they get there will be the true test of their dominance.