Starting with 1995 - when the National League Central was born (and remember, there were only 144 games that season) - and continuing all the way to 2017, I present a brief history of the division based on wins per season:
This graph is not good. I know this. It's messy, barely decipherable. The Reds are purple because I wasn't skilled enough to change it to black. The Brewers are green for the same reason. And wouldn't it be more helpful if the years were listed at the bottom, you ask? Yes, I reckon it would.
But be that as it may, here's what we can sort of see above: The Cardinals have not finished a season at the bottom (the Yankees and Dodgers are the only other teams in MLB to not have a last place finish since division realignment), the Pirates have not finished a season at the top (the Marlins and Rockies join them in that club), and the Cubs' peaks and valleys are like a rollercoaster from hell.
The Cardinals' 105 wins in 2004 are the most in the 23-year history of the division. The Astros' 55 wins in 2012 are the fewest. The Cardinals have spent the most time on the right side of the 82.5 line (a better graph would have had that line at 81), and the Pirates, as most could have guessed, have been the worst team in the division overall.
Thus concludes this week's BotB Short.
And can someone more skilled at this stuff make me a better graph?