2010 MLB National League Predictions

Baseball season is upon us and with that means I'll make my predictions that are sure to be wrong... but as hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

So I'm going to take a shot...

Here we go... today I'll do my NL picks.

National League

East

1. Philadelphia Phillies: Already the best team in the NL + The best pitcher in the Bigs = Another division title.
2. Atlanta Braves: Keep an eye on 20-year-old rookie OF Jason Heyward, he's a stud. My NL Wild Card pick.
3. Florida Marlins: P Josh Johnson is really good and SS Hanley Ramirez could challenge Albert Pujols for NL MVP.
4. New York Mets: They're the Mets. Enough said.
5. Washington Nationals: Still the worst team in baseball... fans will be calling for 1st overall pick P Stephen Strasburg very soon.

Central

1. St. Louis Cardinals: 4 words; Pujols, Carpenter, Wainright, first-place.
2. Chicago Cubs: Can Sweet Sweet Lou Pinella take the Cubbies to the top?, I think not. He needs the 1-2 punch of pitchers Chet "the Rocket" Steadman and Henry Roengardner.
3. Cincinnati Reds: OF Jay Bruce is a beast and they have been gathering a lot of young pitching talents over the last few years.
4. Milwaukee Brewers: Not the strongest team, but better than the Buco's and the Astros.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates: OF Garrett Jones is fast becoming a can't miss player... too bad you want to miss the rest of the team.
6. Houston Astros: A team that got real old real quick. P Roy Oswalt has seen his best years in the rear-view mirror.

West

1. Colorado Rockies: Most balanced team in the West, plus pitcher "Where's" Ubaldo Jimenez is figuring out how to pitch consistently.
2. San Francisco Giants: The best pitching staff in the division, can the offense score enough runs to take them to the top?
3. Arizona Diamondbacks: 3B Mark Reynolds is a serious power threat but will he strike out another 200+ times? Also, a cat named Baxter as a mascot for a team named after snakes brings you down a few notches.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers: I don't think their pitching will hold up and without that we may find out that Joe Torre may not be a genius anymore. Maybe this will be the year someone gets him a hat that fits his head.
5. SAN DIEGO PADRES: Not a very good team. Their best player 1B Adrian Gonzalez will likely be gone by June or July. I don't see them scoring many runs with him, let alone without him. At least they have the best weather in the division. Also, they have the worst road uniforms in the history of the sport.

Coming soon: My AL Picks and World Series Predictions.

---J