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Why Joe Maddon has lots of love for the NL Central

The National League Central has it all: big shoulders, beer, the birthplace of pro baseball and steel.

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. You can taste the suds while feeling the grit under your fingernails at the mere mention of these cities.

Among some key members of the Chicago Cubs, there's a certain appeal to these traditional baseball burgs.

"The heartbeat of baseball, I think, is this division," Cubs manager Joe Maddon last week as his team finished a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium before puddle-jumping to Cincinnati, where it all started, for four games this weekend.

This is coming from baseball lifer who spent nine years managing the Tampa Bay Rays in the tradition-rich American League East, which features the mega-hyped rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward also is a convert to NL Central ball. He played his first five years with the Atlanta Braves before being traded to the Cardinals for the 2015 season. He signed with the Cubs this past off-season, and he has cited the NL Central as a reason why he stayed here many times already.

"Like I've said a couple times before, just the way the game is played," he said. "Every team plays the game the right way, kind of the old-fashioned way. Hitters grind at-bats out. Pitchers make their pitches. It's old-fashioned baseball at its finest.

"The Reds have always been like that - old fashioned. You see the Pirates. You see the Cardinals. You see the Cubs. It's a tough division, Milwaukee. It's one of those divisions that hasn't lost its charm. That's not knocking any other division or league or anything like that. Just look at the teams who are in the division and some of the players - some of the meanest, some of the dirtiest, some of the toughest to play the game with."

Teams in the NL Central enjoy relatively easy travel. They also have two of the most beautiful ballparks in which to play: Wrigley Field in Chicago and PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Cubs fans can make the easy drive to Miller Park in Milwaukee. And the atmosphere at a Cubs-Cardinals game in either city is unmatched.

"All of the above," Maddon said. "You don't really put it together until you actually participate. I was with the Rays and the Angels and never really had a chance to live this part of the baseball world. I did in the minor leagues, and I've talked about that. I loved playing in Iowa and Illinois and Wisconsin.

"Then to get up here last year, and I remember the epiphany: 'The travel's got to be pretty good in this division.' Look at the cities, and it is. You go to each city, and the fan bases are rabid. They love their teams. They absolutely love their roots, and that's really cool. Normally the ballparks are filled up, and there are legitimate rivalries among the different teams.

"Yeah, it is all of that. But unless you're told that and sit down and consciously think about it, you don't think about it until you actually live it. It's pretty neat."

The Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs finished 1, 2, 3 in the division last year with the three best records in the game.

The Cubs have dominated in April, but with each team in this division visiting the others early and often, there's plenty of opportunity for fans to open a cold one or two and conjure up memories of Pete Rose, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, the Big Red Machine and Bob Gibson, all while listening to Bob Uecker on the radio.

Sounds like some good, old-fashioned hardball, NL Central style.

"I love it," Heyward said. "That's the way I try to play it."

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