The NL Central is still the best division in Baseball

When ranking MLB Division by win percentage, the NL Central is still leading the way.

Division	Wins	Losses	Winning %
NL Central	66	44	0.600
NL West	62	49	0.559
AL East	54	57	0.486
NL East	52	61	0.460
AL West	53	64	0.453
AL Central	51	63	0.447

This calculated to a 0.539 winning percentage for the NL and a .462 winning percentage for the AL.

This disparity in the winning percentage of the divisions has always been possible, as teams from the same division could dominate the other teams in their league. But the disparity between leagues has only really been possible with the expansion of interleague play.

For example, in 1995, before interleague play, the Cubs would play 52 games against the 4 other teams in the same division, and 110 games against the other 9 teams in the NL.

When interleague play started in 1997, that shifted the balance to 48 games in-division, 99 games versus the rest of the same league, and 15 interleague games against teams from the AL Central.

This large number of games outside of the division in the same league – as well as having only 4 teams – allowed the 2001 AL West to compile a .556 winning percentage, and the 2002 AL West a .565 win percentage.

After realignment in 2013, there were an odd number of teams in each league, so Interleague games had to happen the whole season. But in-division games were emphasized. So that split was 76 in-division games, 66 games against the rest of the same league, and 20 interleague games (which rotated teams every year except for the “rivalry” games). With so many in-division games the disparity between divisions and leagues flattened out, although the 2022 AL East was quite good, with a .577 win percentage.

That emphasis on in-division games lasted until 2023, when everything changed. MLB decided to have every team play each other every season, meaning fewer games in-division. The split went to 52 in-division games, 64 games against the rest of the same league and 46 interleague games. The was a slight tweak in 2025, when the number of rivalry interleague games was bumped from 4 to 6, meaning only 62 games against the teams in the same league but different division.

That basically meant two fewer series per season against the teams from the same division. It also meant that teams like the Cubs could go through the whole month of April having played only 3 games against teams in the NL Central. By the end of this month they will have played:

• 13 versus the NL East
• 6 versus the NL West
• 4 versus the AL Central
• 3 versus the AL East
• 3 versus the AL West
• 3 versus the NL Central

May will bring 14 games against the NL Central, but June will only have 3. There will be 10 in July, 7 in August and 12 in September.

It’s early in the season and we should see these differences get smaller, especially as there are more in-division games. But early on, it is looking like the National League, and the NL Central in particular, has the best overall group of teams in Major League Baseball.