2011 MLB Preview (NL)

Hello again friends! Now without further adu here is the conclusion of my 2 part MLB Preview as I give you my thoughts on the National League! Enjoy! National League East (Philadelphia Atlanta NY Mets Florida Washington) OK this division in all honesty is the easiest 1 to predict! Why? Because the Phillies are more dangerous than ever this year and I'm not talking about their powerful offense led by Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, and Shane Victorino no! I'm talking about their scary good pitching staff led by 2010 NL Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, offseason acquisition Cliff Lee from the AL Champion Texas Rangers, late season pickup last year Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros, 2008 postseason pitching hero Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton! Now that is an Atlanta Braves of the mid to late 90's pitching staff my goodness! Now as great as the Phils are they do have a shaky bullpen mainly because on again off again closer Brad Lidge is on the DL to start the year and will be out 3-6 weeks and they did let slugging stud Jayson Werth go to the lowly Washington Nationals! But despite those couple of concerns I still expect the Phillies to win this division going away! Also I expect the Atlanta Braves to return to the postseason again this year as the NL Wildcard winner under new manager Fredi Gonzalez who's taking over for the now retired Bobby Cox who in my mind will go down as 1 of the all time greatest managers in baseball history! Led by offseason pickup Dan Uggla from the rival Marlins, young phenom Jason Heyward, wily veteran Chipper Jones, All-star game hero Brian McCann and a slew of others along with a fairly decent pitching staff led by Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, and Tommy Hanson, and a good but not great bullpen led by closer Billy Wagner! The Mets will be better this year but not much better despite finally getting Carlos Beltran off the DL and if he stays healthy along with fellow slugger David Wright and sparkplug Jose Reyes along with a pretty good pitching staff led by Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, and RA Dickey and a bullpen led by embattled closer Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez the Mets could be a darkhorse in this division so watch out for the Amazins to make a little noise this year! The Marlins took a big hit by letting their star slugger Dan Uggla get away and because of that I expect the Marlins to not be any good this year and despite the offseason acquisition of Jayson Werth from the rival Phillies and the possible return of phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg I expect the Nationals to be the vintage Nationals and finish at the bottom of the barrel again! National League Central (Cincinnati St. Louis Chi Cubs Milwaukee Houston Pittsburgh) In a year full of surprises last year the Cincinnati Reds came out of nowhere to win the NL Central for the 1st time since 1995! Led by NL MVP Joey Votto along with Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce, Johnny Gomes, Drew Stubbs, and Scott Rolen just to name a few on offense along with a solid pitching staff led by Bronson Arroyo and Johnny Cueto along with a solid bullpen led by closer Francisco Cordero I actually like the Reds to repeat as NL Central champs again this year! Originally I was going to go with the St. Louis Cardinals to win this division but with their #2 starter Adam Wainwright out for the next year and a half due to Tommy John surgery I think that will cost the Cards in the long run! But despite that they still have arguably the best player in the game today in Albert Pujols along with Matt Holliday and Ryan Ludwick on offense and they also have their #1 starter Chris Carpenter and a good young pitcher by the name of Jaime Garcia and a decent closer in Ryan Franklin! The Cards will finish with a winning record but they will come up just a little short in this division! Despite the acquisitions of Carlos Pena and Matt Garza from the Tampa Bay Rays and having 2 outstanding sluggers in Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez and a solid pitching staff led by Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster and an ok bullpen led by Carlos Marmol I'm afraid it'll be wait until next year yet again for the snakebitten Cubs this year! Despite the offseason acquisition of former Royals ace and 09 AL Cy Young winner Zack Grienke and a potent offense led by Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun just to name a couple and an ok pitching staff led by Yovani Gallardo and Randy Wolf the Brew crew have a very shaky bullpen after the retirement of quite possibly the greatest closer of all time in Trevor Hoffman and it's that shaky bullpen that will be the Brewers downfall this year! Now despite a fairly decent offense of their own led by Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence along with sparkplug Michael Bourn the Astros have no pitching starting and bullpen and because of that look for the Stros to struggle again this year! As for the Double A Pirates well it'll be yet another losing season for them which will make it I believe 19 and counting! UGH!!! National League West (San Francisco LA Dodgers Colorado San Diego Arizona) For the 1st time since they were the New York Giants back in 1954 the Giants franchise celebrated a World Series title! Led by a scary good pitching staff that includes 2 time NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez, and future phenom Madison Bumgarner along with an excellent bullpen led by their outstanding closer Brian Wilson and a potent offense led by Pablo Sandoval, Aubrey Huff, Juan Uribe, NLCS MVP Cody Ross and sparkplugs Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez the Giants should repeat as NL West Champs again this year and I expect them to give the Phillies fits just like they did last year if they should meet in the postseason! New Dodger manager and former Yankee legend Don Mattingly will still have a good offense led by Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Casey Blake, and James Loney, a solid pitching staff led by Clayton Kershaw, Hiroki Kuroda, and Chad Billingsley and an ok bullpen led by closer Jonathan Broxton! However I still think the Dodgers will be on the outside looking in as far as the postseason is concerned! As usual the Rockies will have their dangerous offense led by Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, and Todd Helton but their downfall will be their pitching as 1 Cy Young calibur pitcher in Ubaldo Jimenez and a very shaky bullpen led by closer Huston Street will not lead to anything special for the Rocks again this year I'm afraid! If not for a monumental chokejob the Padres would've won this division last year! But with the loss of All-star slugger Adrian Gonzalez to Boston the Padres are now without that big bat in their lineup! Although they do have some good young pitchers in their rotation led by Clayton Richard and Mat Latos along with veteran pitcher Jon Garland and another very good closer in Heath Bell the Padres will struggle mightily this year mainly on offense! As for the D-Backs well they are the opposite of the Padres because they have some great young hitters in their lineup led by Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton, and Adam LaRoche! But the D-Backs down fall will be their pitching mainly because they don't even have 1 quality starter and that's how bad the D-Backs will be this year I'm afraid! Overall I expect the Philadelphia Phillies to represent the NL in the World Series this year despite the best efforts of the San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and their division rival Atlanta Braves who will be joining the Phils in the postseason oh by the way! Well friends that concludes my 2 part MLB Preview! Hope you all enjoy this upcoming MLB Season and I will be back tomorrow night with my Final 4 predictions so until then you know the routine everybody. Thumbs up talk to ya later! YEAH!!!