NL Central Future Bets for 2025

A Blog by Greg

The NL Central, the often forgotten bastard of the highly competitive National League, will be today’s topic of conversation. According to the sportsbooks, none of the five teams playing in this division have a realistic chance at winning the 2025 World Series. The team in the NL Central with the lowest odds to win the World Series title, the Cubs, are currently sitting at 30/1 (tied for only the 13th best odds in the whole league). That being said, they are not without their share of fun teams and players. The Reds have Elly De La Cruz, and the Pirates house the reigning NL Cy Young, Paul Skenes. While the Central may be the weakest division in the National League, shitty divisions haven’t stopped us from finding value on future bets in the past (I’m looking at you, AL Central), and it certainly won’t stop us now.

Kyle Tucker o29.5 HRs (+105)

For the first time in his illustrious 8-year career, Kyle Tucker is not a member of the Houston Astros. Tucker, set to hit free agency in 2026, was dealt to the Chicago Cubs for Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski, and minor leaguer Cam Smith. The trade seemed to be mutually beneficial on paper as the Cubs received an elite rental in Tucker while the Astros got the outfielder off their books and were able to secure a solid hitter in return. The Cubs separated themselves from the rest of the division with this trade; however, I don’t see much value in betting them to win the division given the current price. Instead, I am banking on Kyle Tucker performing at a high level in a pivotal contract year. In the three seasons in which Tucker played more than 139 games, he hit 30 HRs twice and 29 HRs once. Given the stakes of this season for Kyle Tucker, I will be placing a wager on him to hit over 29.5 HRs in 2025 at the current price of +105.

Cincinnati Reds to make the playoffs (+300)

Why not? The Cincinnati Reds are far from a perfect baseball team, but man, are they fun! In addition, they have made some very savvy acquisitions this offseason and addressed a number of key concerns following their disappointing 2024 season. They needed added depth in the lineup to surround budding star Elly De La Cruz. So, they moved Johnathan India to add another lefty in Gavin Lux and utilized free agency to bring in Austin Hays. The pitching rotation was quite weak outside of Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott. In response, they made a big move to acquire 28-year-old SP Brady Singer from Kansas City. And finally, and most importantly, the Cincinnati Reds got a very solid bullpen arm this offseason. In January, the Reds traded a singular minor league prospect to the Giants for Taylor Rogers, a 34-year-old reliever coming off of one of his best seasons in his long MLB career. Now, these moves aren’t massive in all honesty, but they do build upon the solid foundation that the Reds have been building for the past few years. Is it a guarantee that the Reds make their first postseason appearance since 2013 (excluding the 2020 COVID season)? No, it is not. But is it possible? It absolutely is. I am buying low on the Reds and betting them to make the playoffs at 3/1 odds.

Hunter Greene o160.5 strikeouts (+100)

While the previous entry made my opinion on the Reds fairly clear, I purposefully omitted my full thoughts on Hunter Greene. In short, I am very bullish on Cincinnati's hard-throwing righty. Greene had a breakout year last season in which he struck out 169 batters in 150.1 IP, held a 160 ERA+, was named an All-Star, and had a team-leading 6.9 WAR (Baseball Reference). Even in his first two seasons with the Reds, where he struggled with inconsistency and injuries, he still struck out 164 batters in 2022 and 152 batters in 2023, pitching only 125.2 and 112.0 IP, respectively. So why is the line set so low? Truthfully, I have no idea. Maybe it is a reaction to his K/9 dropping from an incredible 12.2 in 2023 to only a 10.1 in 2024? Or potentially they are just sleeping on the Red’s ace. Regardless, I will be backing my boy Hunter Greene and betting on him to have more than 160.5 strikeouts in 2025 at +100.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next blog covering the NL West! You can also follow me and the rest of TheSkippersView team on X @GRMBets.