I’m aware that they are in the toughest division in baseball. I’m also aware that they’re still on pace for 90-plus losses and that not all of it is attributable to the difficulty of being in the Central.
That's a comment from the Sun Times' Rick Morrissey in this column.
Really? According to this morning's stats from Baseball Reference, the Cubs W-L record is 3-10 against Cin, 3-5 against Mil, 5-7 against Pit, and 2-4 against STL. So they are 13-26 against teams in the NL Central and 27-22 against everyone else they've played so far. Heck, take away the record against Cincy, and the Cubs are 1 run below 0.500 against everyone else they've played.
Furthermore, as of this morning, there are 8 clubs in the majors with 50 or more wins. 3 of those teams are in the NL Central, the only division that can make that boast altough the AL East has two teams within 2 wins of 50. With only one team below 0.500 (Toronto at 3 games below), the AL is the best division record-wise from top to bottom, but the NL Central has three really good teams that have kept the Cubbies from flying the W flagas often as they might have.
The Cubs this year are not as bad as their record might indicate although they, and particularly their bullpen, have induced many Excedrin moments for their fans.