Spring training begins for players to solidify their positions as major leaguers.
The NL Central's starters are pretty much locked in stone. It will be the bullpen and bench players that may have the most activity and evaluation to get to Opening Day rosters.
But fans will debate which team is best now.
One way is to compare each player position by position to rank which of the three is better. Trying to be as objective as possible, here is the breakdown:
Using the team's own current depth charts, which NL Central team is the best
by player to player position comparison? 3= best, 1 = worst
CUBS CARDINALS PIRATES
LF Schwarber 1 Holliday 2 Marte 3
CF Heyward 2 Grichuk 1 McCutheon 3
RF Soler 1 Piscotty 2 Polanco 3
3B Bryant 3 Carpenter 2 Kang 1
SS Russell 1 Peralta 3 Mercer 2
2B Zobrist 2 Wong 1 Harrison 3
1B Rizzo 3 Moss 2 Jaso 1
C Montero 1 Molina 2 Cervilli 3
SP Lester 1 Wainwright 2 Cole 3
SP Arrieta 3 Garcia 1 Liriano 2
SP Lackey 1 Wacha 2 Locke 3
SP Hendricks 2 Leake 3 Niese 1
SP Hammel 2 Martinez 3 Vogelsong 1
CL Rondon 1 Rosenthal 2 Melacom 3
24 28 32
Starting Rotation: Cubs 9, Cardinals 11, Pirates 10. Very close.
The Cubs infield is tops while the Pirates is the worst.
Columnists have speculated that the Cubs could win from 101 to 92 games this year. Most believe the Cardinals will not repeat their victory total from 2015 because of the loss of Heyward and Lackey.
