NL Previews

Let's get the National League out of the way here on Opening Day.

NL East -
Well, the pundits say that it is a two horse race between the Mets and the Phillies. Then you read my predictions and even thou as I write this, the Nationals are leading the division that will not last. I believe that the Braves will return to their glory and join the race between the Mets and Phillies. The Nats and Marlins I don't believe have the pitching that will be required to win the division. The Braves I believe on paper have the best rotation, but the Mets have the names in the rotation (Santana, Martinez) and the Phillies have the bats (of course when you play in a ban box such as Citizens bank, you better have the bats!).
NL East Finish -
1. Braves
2. Mets
3. Phillies
4. Nats
5. Marlins

NL Central -
Here is a shocker the pundits are picking the Cubs to win the Central. Here is another shocker, they won't! Why you ask, simple they are the Cubs! In the Central it might be an interesting race between three cubs, one of which you might be a little shocked with. The Cardinals will be in the race along with the Cubs, but the team that is going to surprise many (not me) will be the Cincinnati Reds. Yes the Reds will resurrect themselves and be a contender again. The Astros and Brew Crew will be in the race until the All-Star break, but that is it. The Pirates will need too many things to go their way for them to be competitive, they may have a shot at snapping the 15 year run of being sub-.500, but they won't challenge for the lead.
NL Central finish -
1. Reds
2. Cardinals
3. Cubs
4. Milwaukee
5. Pirates
6. Houston

NL West -
This division was considered the NL Worst just two or three seasons ago. Now, the NL West is considered the NL Best. The Padres, Rockies, and D-backs all were in the race until game 162 (163 in the case of Padres and Rockies).

During the off-season, the Padres signed Jim Edmonds, the Rockies didn't do much but the one big signing was re-signing TT (Troy Tulowitzki).

The D-backs pulled off two trades during the off-season, one good, one very puzzling. The good trade was shipping minor league talent to Oakland for Dan Haren. The puzzling trade was shipping your closer from last year to the Astros in exchange for Chad Qualls, Juan Guitierrez, and Chad Burke. So Arizona has a great one-two punch with Webb and Haren, but who do you have in the back end of the pen?

The only move that the Dodgers made in reality was signing Joe Torre, great move for the fact that Torre is a great manager, but what, maybe 6 games a year will come down to managers calls. The Dodgers certainly missed the playoffs by more than 6 games, and while looking at teams that didn't do a damn thing, San Francisco. The Giants lost Barry Bonds and replaced him with the power hitting left fielder Dave Roberts. The DR. is a great guy, and fine speed threat, but power hitter?????? I'm not so sure. The Giants will have to rebuild after spending the last dozen years or so with the biggest Steroid user in baseball.

NL West finish -
1. San Diego (Pitching, it will carry the Padres all the way back to the pinnacle of the NL West)
2. Colorado (Hitting will only get you so far)
3. Los Angeles (Torre won't get them higher)
4. Arizona (They will not repeat the overachieving that they did last year)
5. San Francisco (maybe staying there until the 2010 or 2011 seasons)

Your thoughts?????