It took a heckuva long time, and nearly two months of slumping, but the Brewers are no longer even in a Wild Card spot in the NL. That’s really weird.
The Brewers’ loss last night also once again flipped them behind the Cardinals in the NL Central standings, where the Cubs’ lead is back up to a season-high 2.5 games:
It’s weird to be checking the standings as much as we have been at midseason, but given the way the NL Central circus has shaken out, it’s been necessary to keep abreast of where everyone stands for purposes of trade season.
The same is true of the NL Wild Card race, where we’re actually finally starting to see some separation, and we might now be able to identify some additional likely sellers:
It’s actually conceivable that every team below the Brewers could wind up selling this trade season, and, given the way those standings look right now, it might behoove the Cubs to wait to strike on a trade until more teams have definitely decided to give it up.