If you donâ??t think standings matter much in April, think again. More than half of the 120 teams that found themselves in first place in April stayed that way through the rest of the season (exactly 66 of 120).

Your Brewers have just won the National League Central.

OK, so I'm being a tad overdramatic, but for the first time since 1987 the Milwaukee Brewers are in first place in their division at the end of April. It gets better. No first-place team has a larger division lead than the Brewers' four-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds.

So, that doesn't explain why I said we won the NL Central outright.

Well, if you know history (and I do know history), then you would know that since 1982, of the 144 teams that have made it to the playoffs, only eight came out of April more than three games under .500; that's a little fewer than 6 percent (so goodbye Cubs, Yankees, Astros, Cardinals and Rangers).

If you don't think standings matter much in April, think again. More than half of the 120 teams that found themselves in first place in April stayed that way through the rest of the season (exactly 66 of 120). Of those 120 teams 98 finished the season in first either led the division or were less than 2.5 games behind the leader at the end of April (about 81.7 percent).

This all spells good news for the Brewers, but what's more astonishing is how they did it. Last year this team didn't even make .500. Ten years ago this team couldn't buy third place, let alone first. How is it that the Brewers got this good?

Here are two reasons why.

Francisco Cordero: Total domination. In April he faced 41 hitters. Of those 41 hitters two hitters reached first base with a hit. He struck out 19 of them.

To all of you who said the Carlos Lee trade would be a bust, here is your proof to the contrary. Carlos Lee is hitting .242, with five home runs, four doubles and 22 RBIs.

Francisco Cordero has 19 strike outs, 10 saves, has yet to allow a run (that's an ERA of 0.00 for you math majors reading this), and has a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 0.79. Those are phenomenal numbers.

The Diamondback trade: Thank the gods of baseball for allowing this trade to take place. The Brewers traded Doug Davis, Dana Eveland and outfielder David Krynzel for Johnny Estrada (catcher), Claudio Vargas (starting pitcher) and Greg Aquino.

Aquino wasn't exactly blowing anyone away (5.87 ERA and one blown save), so he's playing AAA at the moment, but Johnny Estrada and Claudio Vargas have been playing some amazing baseball.

Estrada is batting .305 with seven RBIs, 25 hits and an on base percentage of .337. He's hitting the ball when it counts and is getting on base (he“s touched home 13 times).

Vargas has been throwing exceptionally well this year, and the Brewers need it. Vargas is 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA and 29 strike outs. Not bad considering how poor the Brewers pitching was last year, allowing 833 runs total year (a little over five runs a game).

This year isn't looking that much better (114 runs allowed so far), but the pitching staff is winning games, and the offense is scoring runs (129 of them to be exact) which was a problem last year (730 total, roughly four a game).

It's only April, but the numbers are on their side. If all goes right (you know, no injuries, keep the bats swinging, that sort of thing) then for once, our generation will get to see the return of the True Blue Brew Crew.

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