NL EAST
The New York Mets are seen by many as the frontrunners, which should come as no surprise with their high-octane offense. They bring both speed and power and will score a ton of runs. Is something missing? Oh yeah, pitching. The health of Pedro Martinez and his effectiveness may be the deciding factor. When you add it all up, a team that may represent four potential MVP candidates, a 300 game-winner, and a lights out closer still might not equal a playoff berth.
The Atlanta Braves failed to win the NL East for the first time in 15 years. The team is loaded with a lot of young talent and led in many ways by the still-ace-of staff John Smoltz. Atlanta won't have trouble scoring runs with a .300 hitting catcher, 50 home run hitter and a career .304 switch hitting veteran in Brian McCann, Andruw and Chipper Jones. The Philadelphia Phillies can play the role of spoiler for the entire league and my precious article. They have most of the elements: A very good lineup that features three terrific young talents — Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard and their starting pitching may be the best for Philly in over a decade. Brett Myers has been very solid over the past couple of years. Young lefty sensation Cole Hammels will fill the number two. The Florida Marlins, last year's version of the movie "Major League," didn't end up with a happy ending. But it was positive. They were the first team to have four rookies win 10 or more games. Young studs Dan Uggla, Miguel Cabrera and Mike Jacobs occupy the 2-3-4 hole. Most remarkably is their average age (25.5) and low, low payroll ($27 million). The Washington Nationals are going to be the team that the East is going to want to play. They lost Alfonso Soriano and a no-name staff is headed by injury-plagued John Patterson.
NL CENTRAL
The St. Louis Cardinals will ride the backs of Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols en route to another postseason trip. The World Series champs did change much. Chris Duncan may be a sleeper for this team with a more prominent role. There's not much mystery after that. They play defense, have strong pitching, a balanced lineup and did I mention Pujols and Carpenter?
The Chicago Cubs added one of the best hitters in the game in Alfonso Soriano, but didn't stop there. Look for Mark DeRosa, Cliff Floyd and underrated starter Ted Lilly (49 wins the last four years) to really make an immediate impact. Look for ace Carlos Zambrano and a healthy Derrek Lee to have monster years. The Cincinnati Reds should score aplenty with supposedly-healthy Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Edwin Encarnacion and Ryan Freel. Combine that with Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang, who won 30 games combined, and the tools are there for a wild card run. The Milwaukee Brewers may be the sleeper of the NL this year. The offense minus Carlos Lee is still above average. The young core of Richie Weeks, Bill Hall and Prince Fielder provides speed and power atop the order. And if Ben Sheets can anchor the staff, Chris Capuano, David Bush and newly acquired Jeff Suppan should give the team plenty of innings and wins.
Don’t expect the Houston Astros to make too much noise, even with fantasy stud Carlos Lee and Roy Oswalt. Someone must finish last in this loaded division and the Pittsburgh Pirates are a prime candidate. They have three young guns ready to fire in Zack Duke, Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny. But youth movements take time.
NL WEST
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the trendy pick by most experts, and I'm not going to spoil the party. In fact, they should run away with it. The pitching staff has some new faces and should be a powerful force against hitters. Free agent Jason Schmidt joins Brad Penny, Randy Wolf, Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley to form an awesome rotation. The Dodgers also have Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent and strong ROY candidate in Andre Either. Don't forget closer Takashi Saito. This is a team built for October.
The San Diego Padres should be the lone competition for the Dodgers. And that's because of their starting pitching: Jake Peavy and old-timers Greg Maddux and David Wells. The offense should improve this year with Marcus Giles and rising stars Adrian Gonzalez, Termel Sledge and Khalil Greene. The Arizona Diamondbacks have aging Randy Johnson back and reigning NL Cy Young pitcher Brandon Webb. Young hitters Chad Tracy, Connor Jackson, Stephen Drew and Carlos Quentin hold the key. The Colorado Rockies with Matt Holliday, Garret Atkins, Todd Helton and rookie Troy Tulowitzki could be in store for a monster offensive season. Without comparable pitching, it's a moot point. The San Francisco Giants are 36-years-old, on average, but with Barry Bonds and Barry Zito, the fans will fill the stands. Look for Bonds in his chase to become baseball's home run king to make history and for Zito to have a stellar season. But that's it.
