Time to preview the NL Central for the upcoming season:
Predicted Standings
1. Chicago Cubs
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates
Best Player: Ryan Braun
Best Pitcher: Chris Carpenter
Cubs
The Cubs are the clear favorite in the NL Central as they return a powerful lineup and an experienced, dominant pitching staff. Led by Alfonso Soriano and Derek Lee, the Cubs lineup has the potential to put up a crooked number any inning. In the rotation, Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden lead a staff that is front-loaded, with the 4 and 5 pitc
hers (Ryan Dempster and Sean Marshall) a cause for concern. However, a strong bullpen with Kevin Gregg and Carlos Marmol should keep the Cubs in any ballgame. Overall, the team has a tremendous amount of talent and will likely be a contender for the NL pennant.
Brewers
The Brewers lost C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets from their starting staff and that will seriously hurt their playoff chances, but their lineup is still stacked, giving them the ability to overcome mediocre pitching. With Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, runs will not be hard to come by, especially considering J.J. Hardy and Richie Weeks bat in front of those two sluggers. Jeff Suppan is the number one starter for Milwaukee and that is a sign for concern in itself as Suppan is not quite an ace. Follow him up with Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra, Braden Looper, and Dave Busch, and the rotation is shaky at best. Recently-acquired Trevor Hoffman leads the bullpen, but even if he is terrific, Milwaukee is still going to need a lot of run-production to stay in the NL Central race. Read more…
Here is the first division preview for the upcoming season and I begin with the NL East:
Predicted Standings
1. New York Mets
2. Florida Marlins
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Atlanta Braves
5. Washington Nationals
Best Hitter: Hanley Ramirez
Best Pitcher: Johann Santana
Mets
The Mets return the same offense as last year with David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran leading the team. Johan Santana leads the starting rotation and is followed by Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez. Santana is an ace, but Pelrey and Perez could put the Mets in a tough situation if either doesn’t live up to expectations. However, their bullpen is key as the Mets have two proven closers in Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz. There won’t be many times this year when the Mets blow a lead after the 7th inning so if an opponent wants to win, it is going to have to beat the Met’s starters. Read more…
Was there any chance that Tiger was going to miss that 16-foot birdie putt? Everyone knew it was coming. It was just a matter of how dark it would be when Tiger would sink the putt to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the 72ndhole. Starting the day 5 strokes behind Sean O’hair, Tiger fought back quickly to get within stroke by the 8th hole, but O’Hairfought back, birdieing number nine andreaching the turn with a two stroke lead. A combination of O’Hair bogeying 10 and Tiger birdiein
g 13 left the two tied after the 15th hole. Even more, Tiger took the lead on 16 when O’Hairbogeyed. The lead was short-lived though as a poor tee shot left Tiger with a bogey on the par-3 17th. The two entered the 72nd hole tied. Who did you expect would win?
Woods and O’Hair both reached the green in regulation, leaving themselves pretty lengthy puts though. First up, O’Hair hits his putt short and to the left, leaving the ball about 4 feet away from the hole. You could hear murmurs rise in the crowd as everyone knew that Tiger had a shot to win it. He spoke with his caddie, aligned the ball, and measured the precise line of the putt. Finally, as anticipation reached its peak, Tiger stepped up to his ball. A clean stroke and the ball made its way towards the hole. Just as it was about a yard away from the hole, Tiger takes a skip step backward before pumping his fist in the air as the ball smoothly sank into the cup. Tiger had done it again. Read more…
