The mighty NL Central is the majors' only division with 5 winning teams

CHICAGO (AP) — The NL Central has reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes. It has some of the majors' most promising rookies, like Sal Stewart, Konnor Griffin and JJ Wetherholt. It has young stars like Elly De La Cruz and older ones like Christian Yelich.

Maybe this strong start from all five teams isn't that big a surprise after all.

“I think it’s a really good division,” Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman said. “Obviously, good pitching, good offenses, and all the teams have gotten off to a good start. So we know that we've got our work cut out for us in this division.”

Heading into Tuesday, the NL Central is the only division in baseball in which every team has a winning record. It's the second-latest date in a season that every NL Central club has been over .500, according to Sportradar, trailing May 29, 2004, when the division had six teams and each one was 23-22 or better.

The NL Central and NL West each had a composite record of 80-61, followed by the AL East at 73-69. The NL East (64-79), AL Central (66-79) and AL West (66-80) all had losing records as a division.

It's impressive territory for an NL Central that had four teams among MLB's 12 smallest payrolls on opening day.

“There are good athletes in the NL Central. The style of play is interesting," St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "You see how collectively they play the game and where their record’s at right now.”

Powered by Cruz and Stewart, the Cincinnati Reds lead the way with an 18-10 record. The Cubs are 1 1/2 games back, followed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in third at 16-13. The Cardinals are 15-13, and the Milwaukee Brewers are last with a 14-13 mark.

Milwaukee won the division in 2025 for the third consecutive year. Chicago and Cincinnati also made the playoffs as wild cards.

“We had three teams in the playoffs last year. We were the only division in the National League to have three,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "In previous years, we’ve never had respect. ... The (division) has been very good and last year was evidence. This year is not surprising.”

The Cubs signed Bregman to a $175 million, five-year contract in free agency, and the Reds and Pirates also made significant offseason additions. But the Central also has benefited from the arrival of a group of promising young hitters.

Stewart, 22, leads the majors with 29 RBIs in 28 games for the Reds. Moisés Ballesteros, 22, is batting .387 in 25 games for the Cubs. Wetherholt, 23, has connected for a solo homer in each of his last three games.

Griffin, who signed a $140 million, nine-year contract with Pittsburgh on April 8, is showing signs of shaking off his slow start. He hit his first career homer on his 20th birthday Friday.

“A ton of young talent in the division, and I feel like that’s really exciting,” Bregman said.

The Central also has been helped by a patient approach at the plate.

The Cubs lead the National League with 130 walks, followed by the Brewers at 126 and the Reds at 119. The Pirates are fifth with 110, and the Cardinals have 103 walks so far.

“It’s about trying to put together quality at-bats and those are leading to walks,” Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell said. "It’s part of our identity, putting together quality at-bats.”

It remains to be seen how the standings shake out once the NL Central starts seeing more of each other. St. Louis played its first division game Monday night when it rallied for a 4-2 victory at Pittsburgh. Cincinnati, Chicago and Milwaukee have played just three division games apiece.

“It’s a lot of really good teams," Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “When you look at the way we got three teams into the playoffs last year and the way we’ve started out this year with all five teams playing good baseball, it’s been a lot of fun. It’s cool to see the division be so strong. There’s going to be a lot of really good games.”

AP freelance reporters Rich Rovito and Santos Perez contributed to this report.

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Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski (32) reacts after striking out a Pittsburgh Pirates batter in the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

St. Louis Cardinals shortstop JJ Wetherholt reacts as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Le)

Chicago Cubs' Alex Bregman reacts after hitting the tying solo home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, April 24, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Cincinnati Reds' Sal Stewart, left, celebrates after his three-run home run with teammate Elly de la Cruz, second from left, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cincinnati, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Jackson)

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (30) throws during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

WIENER NEUSTADT, Austria (AP) — The trial against a man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and plotting to attack one of superstar singer Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago has begun in Austria.

The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift's three performances in August 2024. The singer's fans, known as Swifties, who had flown to Austria from across the globe to attend a performance of her record-setting Eras Tour were devastated, but rallied to turn Vienna into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs.

The defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen known only as Beran A. in line with Austrian privacy rules, faces charges including terrorist offenses and membership in a terrorist organization. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

He is facing trial alongside Arda K., whose full name also has not been made public. They along, with a third man, planned to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024 in the name of the Islamic State group. Beran A. and Arda K. never carried out their attacks.

Beran A.'s defense attorney, Anna Mair, on Monday told The Associated Press that her client plans to plead guilty to most of the charges but she did not specify which ones. Only Beran A. is charged in connection with the Taylor Swift plot.

He allegedly planned to target onlookers gathered outside Ernst Happel Stadium — up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the venue — with knives or homemade explosives. The suspect hoped to “kill as many people as possible,” authorities said in 2024. The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.

Beran A. also allegedly networked with other members of the Islamic State group ahead of the planned attack. Prosecutors say they discussed purchasing weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to illegally buy weapons in the days ahead of the performance. In addition, he swore allegiance to the militant group.

Authorities searched his apartment on Aug. 7, 2024 and found bomb-making materials. The concerts were scheduled to begin the next day.

“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” Swift wrote in a statement posted to Instagram two weeks later. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”

The trial is being held in Wiener Neustadt, about an hour south of Vienna. The proceedings are set to continue May 12.

Prosecutors have also filed terrorism-related charges against Arda K. in the trial in connection with the plan for simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

The third man in that plot, Hasan E., allegedly stabbed a security guard with a knife at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2024. He was arrested and remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia, Austrian prosecutors said.

Beran A. and Arda K. did not carry out their plans in Turkey and the UAE. Beran A. returned to Vienna and then allegedly began plotting to attack a Swift concert there.

The Vienna plot drew comparisons to a 2017 attack by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb detonated at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the United Kingdom in recent years.

Dazio reported from Berlin.

A defendant hiding his face behind file folders on the way to the courtroom in the District Court in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, where two terror suspects will stand trial Tuesday, one for plotting to carry out an attack on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna in August 2024 and pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

The defendants hide their faces behind file folders on their way to the courtroom in the District Court in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, where two terror suspects will stand trial Tuesday, one for plotting to carry out an attack on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna in August 2024 and pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

The defendants hide their faces behind file folders on their way to the courtroom in the District Court in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, where two terror suspects will stand trial Tuesday, one for plotting to carry out an attack on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna in August 2024 and pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

FILE - Fans of Taylor Swift also known as Swifties trade bracelets in the city centre in Vienna, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)

FILE - Fans of Taylor Swift also known as Swifties sing and dance in Vienna, Aug.9, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)

FILE - A person wears a purple head as fans of Taylor Swift also known as Swifties gather in the city centre in Vienna, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)

FILE - A police officer is decorated with Taylor Swift bracelets while guarding the city center in Vienna on Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)

FILE - Austrian police officers watch a gathering of Taylor Swift fans in the city centre in Vienna on Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)