For the past decade the biggest beefs have unfolded not where the national networks are likeliest to point their cameras on a Sunday night, but rather in a tightly packed quintet of Midwestern cities, where rivals warily eye one another across the lake or down the river.
In the National League Central, baseball intensity overflows at the confluence of tight pennant races, irrepressible personalities and unchecked testosterone. Yet as surely as the Ohio flows from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, and Lake Michigan’s thaw heralds a jubilant summer in Milwaukee and Chicago, the bad blood among these rivals cannot be stopped.
This baseball season is barely a month old, and already there have been four bench-clearing incidents among NL Central clubs, three resulting in suspensions. Since 2018, there have been 17 bench-clearing episodes in games involving the teams.
The Cubs and Cardinals are the only NL Central clubs to win World Series titles since the division’s inception in 1994. Their potent brands, large fanbases and ever-present narratives – lovable Cubbies, classy Cardinals – can irk the rest of the division.
“Sitting in the clubhouse in Pittsburgh and when MLB Network or any other talk show comes on, you notice these bigger markets talked about, nonstop,” says Hughes. “It was the same in Cincinnati. We knew we were just as good. It was always like, ‘Yeah, we’re just as good as these guys. Why aren’t they covering us?’