NL West
- Arizona Diamondbacks – These guys are a classic case of the sum equaling more than the total of the parts. Gibson built a team that won 94 games last year built on a bunch of spare parts. Now they are out for blood.
- LA Dodgers – Kershaw is a Cy Young candidate, Kemp is an MVP candidate, Dee Gordon is a star in the making. These guys are right on the cusp.
- San Francisco Giants – As usual, they have the pitching, but the only bright spots in their lineup are Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval. Unless someone else comes up big, I see them regressing this year.
- Colorado Rockies – I know they have Carlos Gonzalez, so that is something. Also, they have Jason Giambi.
- San Diego Padres – The only player I know the Padres have is Nick Hundley, and that is only because I was looking up something about Todd Hundley.
NL Central
- Milwaukee Brewers – If Braun’s suspension was upheld, then I’d be worried. With it being lifted, they should still take the Central with no real problems, even without Fielder. I’m looking for big things from Norichika Aoki.
- St. Louis Cardinals – No more Pujols and Carpenter is injured, but the Cards have a lot of solid players. I don’t see them defending their title, but they will be respectable. *Wild Card Pick
- Cincinnati Reds – A good bunch of hitters with some questionable pitching. Most of the pitchers are still at the early part of the their career (Latos, Bailey, Chapman, Leake) so they could put something together. However, with Madson going down for the year, the back-end of the ‘pen is suspect at best.
- Chicago Cubs – Soriano is still their only good player, and I mean that in name only. They have some good pitchers, but they have no offense.
- Pittsburgh Pirates – Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones are the only players of any value on this team. Their lackluster rotation will only exceed the Astros miserable rotation.
- Houston Astros – Say hello to the team that will finish last in the AL West in 2013.
East
- Philadelphia Phillies – They were the only team with 100+ wins last year. As long as Utley and Howard are able to get and stay healthy, they should win the division again. If they aren’t healthy, they could easily finish 4th.
- Atlanta Braves – After one of the biggest meltdowns at the end of last season I think these guys are going to be able to hold on this year. It’s Chipper’s final season and they have some really impressive starting pitchers forming to go along with the amazing 1-2 punch of Venters and Kimbrel. *Wild Card Pick
- Miami Marlins – If everything click, these guys could easily win this thing. Bringing in a bunch of new guys could cause some issues, so I’m expecting them to get off to a slow start and they are going to be in it for the long hall.
- Washington Nationals – In the West, these guy could be contenders. They are only this low because of the strength of this division. Strasburg, Gonzalez, and Zimmerman could be one of the best starting trios in baseball. Gonzalez and Zimmerman could also be busts. When Harper gets brought up things could get interesting.
- New York Mets – The only team worse then the Mets this season is going to be the Astros, and that is sad. The worst part about is that the biggest problem is their lack of money, and that’s not the players fault. Bringing in the fences seems like it will be a simple case of too little too late. Hopefully they can start rebuilding and be ready to make a run in a few years.
*I think the Cardinals and Braves will play each other in the one game play-off for the Wild Card spot.
Look for AL Predictions and my playoff predictions coming soon.