I’ll start this off by letting you guys know that my predictions are based on what I had predicted prior to the season starting. Injuries will not have an effect on who I picked.
We’ll start in the NL East, where I’ll go with a popular pick in the New York Mets. They were the best team in the NL last year until they had the worst regular season collapse in major league history. Nothing has changed for the worse. As a matter of fact, things have gotten much better. The Mets lost savvy veteran Tom Glavine to the Braves in the off-season but landed baseball’s best pitcher in Johan Santana. He will ace this staff, and allow some pressure to come off the shoulders of Pedro. Add in Maine and Perez and I believe this team has the best rotation in the NL. The offense might get the headlines in New York but I think this pitching staff is what will carry them into the division title.
The NL Central in my opinion will come down to one of two teams, the Brewers or the Cubbies. I’m going with the Brewers. They are still a very young team and will have more time to win in future seasons, but I really feel like this is the year they will put it together and become serious contenders for years to come. They have a very young and potent offense which will help to carry this team to where they want to go. Their pitching staff will be headed by what could be the best 1-2 punch in the NL this year if Sheets stays healthy and Gallardo gets healthy. Only serious question mark for this team is Eric Gagne closing. However, with Gagne going back to the NL where he was dominant once before, I’ve got to believe he will return to at worst, his pre-Boston days.
In the NL West, you are probably looking at the most competitive division in baseball. There are clearly 4 teams competing in this division. The Giants are the only team who without a doubt has no chance at winning this division. With that said, I’m going with the Dodgers. I believe they have the best pitching staff top to bottom in their division. Their main problem last season was their lack of power. The addressed that problem when they brought in Andruw Jones. The guy isn’t what he used to be, but he is still a power bat. He will still hit 30 HR this year, it may come with a batting average under .260, but batting average is not what they needed. When you consider that virtually every player on the offensive side of the ball will have a fantasy impact this season outside of their 3b (Blake DeWitt, who right now is having an impact), you’ve got to think that this offense is going to produce more than enough to help what is already considered the best rotation in this division. With stud closer Saito and Broxton setting up for him, they have arguably the best back end of the bullpen in the division as well.
The wild card spot will go to the Phillies. They simply have too potent an offense to not get into the playoffs. Arguably the best offensive players at their position in the entire majors, Howard, Utley and Rollins will carry this team. Their starting pitching as a whole will struggle, but moving Myers back to the rotation and pairing him with young stud Hamels, will help this team tremendously. The addition of Brad Lidge will also make a big difference. This guy still has elite stuff, his problems seem to be mental. If the change in scenery can fix this, he could return to his all-star days.

I got no questions this past week and I’m hoping it’s because I forgot to post the link on the bottom of the article this time. Please feel free to leave me any questions you have. I’ll get back to you in a timely manner, and it could just help you win your league. http://5goodminuteswithadam.blogspot.com/