In the NL East, we’re looking for a 84 win team to likely take a weak division. We expect the battle for least suckitude to come down to Shaybee’s Braves and tjeff’s Expos, with Atlanta barely eking out first place despite the lack of a fourth starter and a spotty bullpen. (That said, those sluggers will bludgeon the cheap seats at Fulton County.) The ‘Spos feature the usual Montreal suspects with the addition of Yaz circa 70, who usually performs well and should compete for an MVP in hitting friendly Jarry Park. The pitching is weak though, particularly a pen that features despicable Urbina. Pumpkinmcp’s Mets will place third in a close race, buoyed by some positive lift from pitching friendly Shea. His pitchers will need that help as the starters don’t impress in Rule V and the “everyone is a closer” relief corps is mediocre up and down. Still, he’ll outpace a Philly lineup that tri built more for D and speed in a Vet Stadium that rewards gap hitters. Ryan Howard will have lots of RBI opportunities, but not as many as his guaranteed 200Ks. The pitching won’t be competitive, with the frequently disappointing Carlton and Gibson leading the rotation and a blah pen. 

Braves: 84-78

Expos: 82-80

Mets: 80-82

Phils: 72-90

Schwarze’s Cards are the class of the Central, fielding a strong up and down lineup and a solid bench that will be only blunted a little by Busch Stadium. The pitching isn’t nearly as strong, but Schwarze will somehow work out 94 wins with this crew and a relatively weak division. We can’t root for Dvorr’s Reds, what with the offending presence of HWMNBN, but we could see a good year from Little Joe and Big George (even as Johnny Bench and Joey Votto disappoint yet again). The Red’s roto is mediocre at best – we don’t usually expect much from Fritz and Sutton – but there are some mainstays in the back who should keep things closer than they deserve. Specs’ Cubbies in –where else? – Wrigley will have an uneven lineup, with mainstays like Billy Williams outperforming the likes of Sosa and Sandberg. Wilkens will be missed behind the plate. We don’t like their starting pitching even a little, especially Fergie who will log over 300 IPs of plus 5.00 ball. Kimbrel and Sutter are a nice bullpen combo, but at least one lefty would have been nice. Still, they will likely finish ahead of dilli’s Bucko’s. We don’t like the Kendall/Slaught platoon and LaRoche is a dog compared to other options. As crafted, Pittsburgh has the option of a true five man rotation, but it doesn’t help when two of the five are Rooker and Rhoden. Still, Drabek and Bulldog are often better than expected so they could keep the Pirates ahead of the Cubbies. We don’t expect much help from the fledging Melancon as closer.

Cards: 94-68

Reds: 83-79

Cubs: 71 – 91

Pirates: 70 – 92

We love Robin’s Dodgers to take the West but they’ll be pushed more than they should have to be. We’re not in love with the lineup but Beltre and Piazza should be enough provided Kemp comes through with a decent season. The pitching is the tipping point, with an option of five solid starters including overachieving Ruess and frequent pleasant surprise Odalis Perez. The bullpen lacks depth but we expect they’ll log the least number of innings in the league. Sin’s Giants will be right on LA’s tail, with a beastly lineup featuring Barry Butthead, Willie McC, Matt Williams, Fat Kevin and even Wilkens behind the dish. We’re not loving the D however, and could see these guys lead the league in Es. The pitching isn’t nearly as nice as the lumber, with okay only starters – we like only Schmidt a little – supported by righty heavy relievers with a couple of lively arms. Expect lots of 9 to 7 wins. The Padres and Rockies will jockey for last, with Colorado likely just hitting enough to keep them a couple frames ahead of the Friars. The Helton in RF experiment should be interesting to watch, but expect McGwire to grab the MVP with a season long beast mode romp in the thin air. The pitching will suck of course, with Singer likely to self-implode after giving up 40 dingers and the unproven pen setting up lawn chairs behind the mound to avoid all the running in after the fifth inning. San Diego just doesn’t have enough hitting to make up from its cavernous home, with Caminiti and Trout needing to have big years just to stay even a little competitive. The starting pitching will need to be a lot better than this crew can be – we’ve never liked Jones and other versions of KBrown are better. A deep pen will get lots of work but not that many save opportunities.

Dodgers: 93-69

Giants: 91-71

Rockies: 77-85

Padres: 75-87

There’s a lot to like in the Bronx, where the OF looks like a vintage affair and the usually dependable Jeter and scrappy Placido Polanco make a nice DP pair. If ARod and Giambi contribute, look out for the Yankees, given that the pitching looks like the real strength of this team. We think Catfish is due and we are longtime Jimmy Key fans when he’s slotted as a 3 or 4 SP. The relievers look flexible and durable. We like the Evil Empire to hold off their nemeses in Beantown, where Red Sox Nation will hope for another monster year from Fred Lynn and assume that Ortiz at 1B is mostly a mitigated disaster. The pitching should be decent, with Pedro and Clemens both hoping for Cy Young consideration and a decent bullpen ready to help out when Schilling gets rocked with regularity. Toronto will be interesting to watch, where the hitters will likely put on an Exhibition in their like named Stadium. If Tony Fernandez and Devon White can get on base, expect lots of RBIs from a variety of big scary bats. That said, the defense looks like swiss cheese (okay, except for Tony F), with the biggest holes in the corner OF where Olerud and Delgado will be watching a lot of balls bounce past them. The pitching staff will require a lot of care and feeding, with only Clemens carrying over 200 IPs and only Roger Nelson really being a dependable stopper. The relief corps is talented but overloaded with guys wanting to close and too many "who dats" for the middle innings. Expect more bombs a-flying in Detroit’s old school Tiger Stadium, where Miggy’s mahem may earn him an MVP but Tony Phillips’ exploits at 2B should be fun to watch. The Bengals’s pitching should be intriguing as well, with the usually steady Verlander backed up by the specious pair of JR Richard and Chunky Lolich. Expect a busy and versatile bullpen, where Willie Hernandez and Koji will get lots of work.

Yankees: 89-73

Red Sox: 86-76

Blue Jays: 84-78

Tigers: 82-80

Initially, we expected the AL Central to be the punching bag of the league this season, with every team struggling to even sniff .500. But closer inspection finds more to like in the heartland than we first thought. The cream of the Central crop will be the Royals, where llcoach has wisely loaded up the lineup with a bunch of speedy spray hitters who will rack up oodles of doubles and triples. Don’t expect many dingers from this crew, but they still may contend for the league OPS champs. The starting pitching is decent thanks to the usually solid Saberhagen leading some steady arms. We’re not as sold on the background guys, but Joe Nathan should be a fairly consistent presence at the end of games. Right behind the Royals will be musso’s Twins, who have a decent shot of taking the division due to their balanced composition in all aspects of the game. Like the Royals, the Doublemints are loaded for two baggers and trips and they should get plenty of them in BaggieDome. The pitching will be heavily dependent on Johan and Tom Terrific; they’ll need both to have good years to catch KC, because we don’t like their pen even a little bit. (Nathan may have been the pick of the year.) A more interesting team will be found in ChiTown, where the power will be impressive and the glovework a lot less so. Still, a team loaded with RH power pitchers may cause these guys fits as they have little talent on the left hand side of the plate. Even more fascinating will be the pitching, as in, wow, this is one fascinating train wreck. The combo of LaMarr Hoyt and Wilbur Wood makes us throw up in our mouth a little and a revolving door of guys will hope to keep Chris Sale’s arm from falling off. The only thing keeping the Pale Sox out of the Central cellar will be Enron Stadium, where a bunch of guys who made their bones in the vacuous environs of the Astrodome will get lit up like a pinball machine in that little bandbox. Mike Scott and Larry Dierker are not going to enjoy this season and most of the relievers aren’t going to be much happier. The lineup will help a lot as these ‘Stros have some big ‘ol bats, but they are going to whiff a lot too and probably lead the league in GIDP. Overall, if the Royals and Twins do well, they’ll have the patsies behind them to thank for a lot of it.

Kansas City: 86-76

Minnesota: 84-78

Chicago: 68-94

Houston: 66-96

Out in the West, we’re tempted to go out of a limb and throw our support behind rbow and his upstart DBacks. We always like a little Fernandomania and we like the vibe off of the starting lineup, where we have high expectations for the '90 version of Rickey being Rickey in Bank One and we think Goldschmidt is due for a MVP flirtation. Still, we’re not loving the rest of the rotation and the bullpen looks a little flighty save for Gags. These guys are the toughest call of the offseason and we probably won’t know where they’ll head up until we work out the math. A more conventional choice would be the A’s, where the pitching looks pretty solid behind Catfish and Vida Blue and a pretty stellar relief cast. But we’re not loving the lineup completely, even though Canseco always surprises us with a strong campaign and Bobby Alomar should set a nice table. We’ll likely cave and predict them to take the division but it doesn’t feel real good. Seattle has a lot of potential on paper, particularly a solid lineup operating in the hitter friendly Kingdome. Posey and Donnie Baseball are both nice pickups for the Rain Kings, though a year of Edgar at the hot corner should leave someone a little weak in the knees. (The rest of the D looks pretty solid overall.) Less happy with the Kingdome will be a pitching staff that was largely raised in the relative safe confines of Safeco Field. We’re guessing the pitching coach might as well not unpack his bags because he won’t be staying long. Bringing up the rear will almost certainly be alice and her Halos. The Angels bring a lot of speed (and a rare Wes Parker appearance!) but we suspect that all that legwork will be neutered a bit by Edison International and these guys lack the pop found in a lot of other AL clubs. Moreover, we just can’t get happy with the arms, with TSMOPOAT threatening to walk 200 and Frank Tanana being the closest thing to a stopper. We also aren’t buying into the pen, where perennial disappointments like Ken Tatum, Mark Eichhorn and the Candyman lurk. There are lots of IPs to work with here at 1700+, so maybe alice will find the right combo. We’re just not seeing it.

Oakland: 85-77

Arizona: 82-80

Seattle: 81-81

California: 79-83