The Latest Breaking News from NL Central

MILWAUKEE — With the NL Central crown in their pocket and time to kill on their hands, the Cardinals cannot do anything to change their postseason position in the coming days, but they had one more last chance to shape who they might face.

The Cardinals (90-65) guaranteed themselves at least a tie with second-place Milwaukee (82-72), and now they own the tiebreaker because the victory Tuesday gave St. Louis an insurmountable 10-8 lead in the season series.

MILWAUKEE — The first goal the Cardinals set for themselves in spring training, the gateway goal that would get them into the postseason and closer to achieving their loftiest ambition, is also the one Nolan Arenado has brought up several times in recent weeks as a reminder.

We are three weeks away from the start of the playoffs, with the first game of all four wild-card series scheduled back-to-back-to-back. You can be sure that MLB will market the event as baseball’s version of the first day of March Madness. (Fall Frenzy, anyone?) But regardless of how well…

Milwaukee’s playoff hopes will depend on whether its face of the franchise slugger starts slugging again.

Albert Pujols and the Cardinals are on a tear.

As any newcomer from the minors or another major-league club makes his way for the first time from the players’ parking lot to the Cardinals clubhouse, he is enveloped in history and greeted by its expectation.

MILWAUKEE — A June series that pitted the two remaining teams vying for the NL Central title and started with both teams sporting the same record became a showcase of their bullpens.

After an unorthodox first two seasons, the Cubs manager will get the chance to lead under more conventional circumstances.

When the Cubs executed their trade-deadline fire sale last July—after they had traded Yu Darvish and nontendered Kyle Schwarber in December 2020—it appeared that they would be entering a multiyear transition. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the type of long rebuild they endured a decade ago, but it was ...