A Note About "Getting Fat on the Pirates"

This seems as good a time as any to dispel one of the most annoying myths in baseball right now. The notion that the Cubs are the only team benefitting from playing poor teams in their division like the Pirates and Reds.

I took the bottom two teams from each division and added their losses together, here are the ranks.

NL East- 167

AL Central-164

NL Central- 159

AL East- 158

NL West- 157

AL West- 143

So that means that the Marlins, Braves, Phillies, White Sox, Tigers, and Twins all get to play "easier" teams based on record than the Cubs do with the Pirates and Reds. Plus they get the two weak teams in their division more often because the NL Central has six teams.

It also means the Cardinals, Brewers, and Astros all get to play the Pirates. The Cardinals are taking advantage of that this season, but why didn't they last year? I mean shouldn't they take care of the lowly Pirates every year?

Don't ignore the Reds Sox, Yankees, and Rays getting fat on the Orioles and Blue Jays or the Dodgers, Giants, and Rockies beating the Padres and D-Backs.

The fact is every single division in baseball has its weak teams, and to earn a playoff spot teams have to beat up on the bad teams. That is how baseball works, not just how Cubs baseball works.