NL Central Standings: Brewers No Worse For Wear After Rough Week Out West

The week was set up perfectly. The Brewers were just a game and a half behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central, and they were facing some tough teams in the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays. The Brewers were on a road trip out west against the two worst teams in the NL West. However, things didn't go entirely to plan.

The NL Central itself had a tough week, with every single team going on a losing streak. The Pirates didn't win a single game all week. It presented a perfect opportunity for the Brewers to jump them and take the division lead for themselves while another team thought to be a contender, the St. Louis Cardinals, flounder at the bottom of the standings.

But the Brewers weren't able to take full advantage of the week, although they are no worse for wear because of it.

The NL Central Standings through May 7th have the Milwaukee Brewers right behind the Pittsburgh Pirates even after a six game losing streak.

Despite going 1-6 on the week, the Brewers were able to gain a full game on the Pirates in the standings thanks to the Pirates going 0-7. The Brewers pulled out a win against the Giants on Sunday to end the road trip, securing the one game gain.

The road trip was not as positive as the Crew's last trip out west, which saw them go 7-3 in a ten game, three city trip.

This was a missed opportunity to jump ahead in the standings and put some distance between themselves and the rest of the division. On the other hand, if the Brewers were to have a week like this, there couldn't have been a better time. There's not many weeks throughout the year where you can go 1-6 and not only not lose any ground in the standings, but gain some ground.

It's a long season and the Pirates are extremely unlikely to remain atop the division as we get deeper into the year. There will be more opportunities to jump them in the NL Central standings.

Milwaukee is getting closer to having a healthy team with Tyrone Taylor and Adrian Houser returning on this road trip and as they get into a groove, things can only be getting better from here.

There's always weeks like this and some frustrating losing streaks throughout a major league season. While there's never a good time to have one, this certainly wasn't a bad time to have one since everyone else in the division was losing as well.

With just over a month of the season gone, the Brewers are within a half game of first place in the division. The fact that the Pirates are the team currently ahead of them should give Brewers fans some comfort that they'll be able to run them down in the near future.