Ugh…The NL Central. As a White Sox fan, I’ve grown to dislike just about all of these teams. First, they have the Cubs, and the other 5 teams are so pitiful that it actually led to the Cubs making the playoffs 3 of the past 10 years. Right off the bat, the Reds and Pirates have no chance…there’s always 2009….but probably not. That makes it a 4 team division, and from looking at the other 2 NL divisions, the winner of this division this year will probably be the 7th or 8th best team in the NL, so I’m predicting a first round sweep for whoever wins it. The logical choice is the Cubs, but since I’m not picking the White Sox to win the AL Central, I’m allowed to play favorites once, right?
1. Milwaukee Brewers – I’m going to give this division to the Brewers, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they only win about 72 games (which could still put them in the race). The True Blue Brew Crew would have been the most shocking team in a shocking NL last year if the D-Backs and Rockies hadn’t done what they did. The bring back promising young stars Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, JJ Hardy, and Corey Hart, and Jason Kendall and Mike Cameron were pretty decent veteran pickups to compliment them. The pitching is a little shaky, but could be decent if Ben Sheets avoids a bought with vertigo, Chris Capuano forgets the atrocities of 2007, and everyone else pitches well enough to win games against the Reds and Pirates.
2. Chicago Cubs – Like I said above, probably going to win the division, but I can’t bring myself to taking them. Plus, they are the Cubs. They’ve mastered the art of losing for 100 years now. They can find a way to screw this up. I think the Cubs are involved in 2 burning “what ifs?” First, if Harry Caray was still alive, what would happen to him after the first time he tries to pronounce Kosuke Fukudome’s name? Would they actually fire him? Second, if Felix Pie had married Gwyneth Paltrow instead of that “rock star” from Coldplay, would she have still insisted on having a daughter named Apple?
3. Houston Astros – You know when you aren’t going to have a good season? You pick up a guy the day before his name shows up in the Mitchell Report. Oops. The ‘Stros aren’t what they’ve been in their recent past, but they still have a dangerous lineup with Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, Mark Loretta, Ty Wigginton, and youngster Hunter Pence. The pitching is again a little shaky, but they do have Mr. No Run Support Roy Oswalt and possible future star Wandy Rodriguez at the front of the rotation. Just ignore the 41 year old in the 4th slot, and they could get even older because I think this is the only team desperate enough to sign Roger Clemens for one more year.
4. St. Louis Cardinals – They won a World Series by only winning 83 games, so how good have they really been these past few years? Albert Pujols is apparently playing with a torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament, and I can speak from experience here on what he is going through. I tore my UCL when I was in high school. I had a bruise about a foot long stretching from the inside of my upper arm to half-way down my forearm. Not fun. I did have it fully rehabbed in about 3 months though, so I’m surprised he didn’t just rest it up and join the team in June. They will probably be the 4th place team either way.
5. Cincinnati Reds – For this division, they have a pretty decent lineup featuring sluggers like Griffey and Dunn surrounded by a bunch of other solid hitters. I never heard of their young 4th and 5th starters from the Dominican, so in this day and age that probably means they’ll use about 32 different starting pitchers (like a certain team in gray and black that I know of) or they’ll win the division.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates – ARRRRGGGGHHH!!! It be 16 years since our last winning season, and we’ll walk the plank if we don’t make it 17. Those landlubbers Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell, and Zach Duke may be getting us about 3 score and 7 wins this year. ARRRGH!
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