With Spring Training wrapping up this week, its time to start looking at the upcoming season, the surprises, the disappointments and of course, the division champions. We start out this season's preview series by looking the the division which should have a run-away winner. Last year the NL Central, the largest division in the major leagues, had only two teams finish above .500. There were the Cubs, who barely finished above .500 and then there were the Cards who ran away with the division. Here is how I see this season breaking down:
1. Cardinals: Honestly, probably the easiest division champion to crown in the preseason. If they didn't resign Holliday, they probably still would have won this division. The fact that they have right now Pujols and Holliday hitting back to back will make hitters around them better (like Rasmus, who I have picked in several fantasy leagues simply because of the lineup he hits in). Of course in a few years, this tandem will not be as effecitive as Holliday gets old, but right now it works. They also have one of the best pitchers in the National League (Carpenter) and one of the best pitching coaches. The signing of Felipe Lopez for next to nothing will also have a very positive prescence for this lineup.
2. Brewers: The Brew Crew almost finished above .500 last season, and this season, they have the tools to make it above .500. Their main struggle last season was their starting pitching, which was decimated with injuries. The rotation comes back with a new addition (Wolf) and actually a good amount of starters that are effecitive and can pitch in the rotation. In fact they now have too many, so one of them will have to go to the pen. However the pitchers will be the key for their season. It is very plausible that none of them improved which will spell disaster to this team. The reason I still have them ranked here is they remind me of the Phillies of a few years ago, which struggled with pitching but have a monster lineup. Fielder, Weeks and Braun if all healthy will carry this lineup in a lot of games, and (what is probably due to a biassed opinion) Gomez will add some diversity to this lineup.
3. Cubs: If they want to make the playoffs, their rope is starting to get shorter. Their amazing lineup of the last few years is starting to show its age and is starting to slowdown. While they have some bright spots in the rotation (Wells), they will need a lot of help in order to make a run for the playoffs. Mainly, their bullpen needs to be on point and their lineup will need to work. Soriano, Ramierez, Lee and Fukudome could be a fantastic lineup if they are healthy and if they all have good season. The problem is that is a lot of iffs, which is why they are ranked here.
4. Reds: The Reds should be ranked 5 in the list, however their are two many sleepers on this team to ignore. Their offense is littered in players (Votto, Bruce) who could potentially click and then blow away the compeition. Their bullpen is strong so it all comes down to their rotation. The problem with the Brewers is their rotation is average. If Arroyo and Harang have big years, Bailey becomes the star he is supposed to and Chapman fans hitter this could be a sleeper team that is not only ranked 4th, but could go higher.
5. Astros: The 'stros have one of the better rotations in this division, but their bullpen is weak and their lineup is really weak. They will need some offense to get out of the bottom of this division, especially when the rest of the division is really offensively relevant. Generally pitching is better than hitting, but the Astros hitting is so poor, it will really hurt this team.
6. Pirates: Sadly things don't look good again for the Pirates. However, this year the Pirates played the offseason right signing players that will start to allow this team to rebuild. This team has talent in the farm system that is going to shine through eventually. They just need more time, and management that doesn't seem to botch it every year.
