Suppose you went into a long slumber at the end of the night on June 18, woke up again this Monday morning, did some stretching, made a big cup of coffee, then looked at the National League Central standings.

Your first thought would likely be, "What in the world happened?"

Based on where things stood less than two months ago, it's almost unfathomable that by Monday morning, the Milwaukee Brewers would have a six-game lead over the Chicago Cubs for first place in the NL Central.

That's what the Cubs led the division by — actually, 6.5 games — over both the Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds at the end of the day on June 18. The Cubs were 45-28, the Brewers and Reds both 39-35.

According to the website FanGraphs, one of the top resources for advanced baseball stats and analytics, the Cubs'

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