To continue my Major League preview, here are my visions for the National League.
NL East:
The Mets are going to win the East. As an American League fan, I fear Johan Santana. The National League should be shaking in their cleats. Sure, Johan had a poor second half of last season, but I’m willing to give him a pass for a few reasons: 1. He was playing on a dead-end team 2. The Central was probably the toughest division last year and 3. He was ready to get out of
Finishing second, an answer that may surprise many: the Atlanta Braves. Yep, the Phillies are going to be disappointed this season. I really like the Braves for a few reasons. The first is that they will have Mark Teixeira for a full season. They haven’t had much power out of first base in awhile and that will pay dividends. Second, they also got rid of Andruw Jones and his .220 average. That guy was the anti-rally. The Braves also shored up that pitching staff. Last year, the Braves pitching rotation was described as: Smoltz, Hudson and pray for rain. This year, that will be different. Glavine and Hampton will make their rotation much stronger. If
NL Central:
I am so unimpressed with the NL Central I nearly considered skipping it. Really, I don’t think there is a legitimate title contender coming out of this division. The winner will be the Cubs. But don’t give me that “100 year break the curse” “next year is this year” blah blah blah. It’s garbage. Show me a good pitching rotation and I’ll agree with you. Zambrano is a genius. Besides him I kind of shrug my shoulders. Rich Hill shows flashes of brilliance. Ted Lilly? Jon Leiber? Can you spell average? I will say their lineup is pretty deadly, possibly the best in the National League. It’ll be interesting to see if Kosuke Fukudome (no pronunciation key, sorry) translates to all the hype. Even is he turns out to be the next Kaz Matsui, I still like the rest of the bunch: Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez and perennial triple-crown candidate Derrick Lee. Let’s not forget Kerry Wood. That guy can mash and I’m only half kidding. So yes, I see the Cubs taking the Central but not much else. They don’t have the pitching to advance in the playoffs. Sorry, maybe next year.
I’m not really sure what’ll happen with the rest of the division. The Brewers are a young team that will be dangerous, soon. They just have a massive collapse last year and they really didn’t do anything to ensure that won’t happen again. They also lost Francisco Cordero and replaced him with Eric Gagne. Did the Brewers see Gagne in a Red Sox jersey? I’m guessing not.
NL West:
This division excites me. You may have been able to tell that I am a fan of good pitching. Well, this division is the jackpot. I love the Arizona Diamondbacks coming out of the West. I’m scared of Brandon Webb and Dan Haren and they don’t even play the Yankees! Throw in Randy Johnson as the number three and you’ve got quite the rotation. Yes, I know he’s 82 years old. But this is the NL West: There is no hitter that scares anyone. (Let’s put it this way: The Dodgers added Andruw Jones and GOT BETTER.) I’m also a huge Jake Peavy fan. That guy is electric. Throw in Chris Young and Greg Maddux and I think we’ll have quite the battle. The reason I’m going with the D’Backs is because they’ve proven they can do it before and the Padres lineup is worse than
The other contender coming out of here is the Dodgers. Unfortunately, they just don’t have any pitchers than can go against any of the previous pitchers I mentioned. I see them finishing third. The Giants are an absolute joke.
To recap:
NL East:
NL Central:
NL West:
Wild Card:
Playoff edition coming soon.
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10 users responded in this post
Reds will win the central.
Braves pitching is solid. That is all that needs to be said. Put Mets to wild card.
Reds will not win central. Cubs will be a dominating force this season.
James.
The Mets will not win the NL East. Assuming that Hampton stays moderatley healthy throughout the season they have 9 legitimate starting pitchers. That means, lose Hampton and there are still 8 other guys that can go 6 innings. The Mets cannot compete with that depth. Also, the bullpen in Atlanta is much more solid than in New York. Yes, the first 2 games saw the bullpen letting them down, but Mike Gonzalez and Anthony Lerew are currently on the disabled list. When they return the ‘pen will have a number of great arms, buffered by some serviceable guys. Now to the lineup: Yunel Escobar is a rising star in the league, and with Chipper Jones and Mark Teixera protecting him he will see a lot of pitches to hit. Chipper and Tex are sure to have monster years. If Jones hadn’t been hurt last year and his numbers were extended over an entire year they would have rivaled, and some of them would have been better, than his numbers in his MVP season. Francouer and McCann both had down years, but McCann was still one of the best hitting catchers in the majors and Francouer drove in over 100 runs. Kelly Johnson proved last year early that he could be a above-average leadoff hitter, so assuming that he progresses and takes his production further into the summer he too will become a household name. These assets, coupled with the bench that Bobby Cox always puts together and with the managing of Bobby Cox, who has proven over and over that he is the premier manager in the Majors means that the Braves will see a return to October Glory in 2008.
Wow to honestly say the braves are better than the mets is the most absurd thing ive maybe ever heard.The braves are not better than the mets in any aspect of the game. The mets have a better lineup, better base stealers, more experience, DEFINATELY BETTER BULLPEN(holy crap i cant even believe whammy said the braves bullpen is better than anybody in the MLB), and better starters.The braves have arguably the worst bullpen in the Major leagues.No players in the league are more complete for a 24 year old player than Reyes and Wright.Johan will win a cy young, pedro is still iffy with injuries but with perez, el duque, john maine, and mike pelfrey to back that up, they will be fine with starting pitching. The Mets are too deep and too talented to not win the east after the collapse last year.The braves bullpen will blow many games without a for sure go to guy.Who is even the closer anymore for them Soriano? Hudson and Smoltz will still produce(although Smoltz has injury issues too),Glavine has seen better days, and Chuck James and Jair Jurrijens just will not get the job done.The phillies have one of the best lineups in the national league with stars like Howard,Utley, and returning mvp Jimmy Rollins.Although the phillies pitching is suspect, they play in a home run friendly ballpark where they will score a lot of runs.It will be an interesting wildcard race for the phils and braves but the mets will definately finish on top of the division, and the National league.
The Reds are looking good,among the best pitching in the NL so far, and potent hitting at times. Just respect it.
Braves sweep Mets to start the season. The Braves bullpen shut down the Mets both games, although in the first game it wouldn’t have mattered because the Braves lineup produced like it should continue to do all year, as one of the strongest in baseball. Andy, I never said they had the best bullpen in the majors….you must have been reading something else. As far as James and Jurrjens not being able to get the job done….last year Chuck James proved he was a better end of the rotation starter than most teams had and Jurrjens, although only through one start, showed that he has major league quality stuff. Altogether, through the first 2 games they played this season the Braves have shown that they are better than the Mets through performance, not talk or any of that other nonsense. Without a doubt the NL East will be one of the best races this year, with it probably going deep into September before a Champ is crowned.
all i have to say is this. smoltz (for 5 innings) vs santana (for 7), who won? nuff said
well not the way to start the season but they do this every year and blow the first series in Atlanta.No clutch hits this weekend at all from the mets.Wright,Castillo, and Reyes combine for 1 for 16 from the plate.Dont expect that much but Johan still looked solid and is a good hitter somehow too. hey theres 157 games left to prove themselves right?
keep telling yourself that andy
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