Baseball Preview, #4

The largest division in baseball is one of the biggest snoozers. The Pirates, Reds, Brewers, and Astros have done nothing in the last twenty years, and while the Cubs are competitive, they are the cursed Cubs. The Cardinals, meanwhile, have the best player in baseball, are a major contender in the National League, and benefit from beating up the bottom feeders all season long.


NL CENTRAL
Cardinals
Not only does St Louis have Albert Pujols, they also have All Star slugger Matt Holliday batting behind him AND Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter solidifying the pitching rotation. But despite the best 1-2 pitching in the National League and the best 3-4 hitting duo, the Cards had the lowest record of the four NL playoff teams and got swept in the first round. So what was the problem? It seems like the rest of the team just isn't that good. Ryan Ludwick followed up his 37 HR/113 RBI/.299 All Star season with a real stinker. And while I hope the fellow can bounce back, it is more likely that the almost-32 year old simply had a flukey monster season in the middle of a ho-hum career. Nobody else on the team has breakout potential. Pujols should win another MVP, the Cards should win the division, and Wainwright and Carpenter should win a 5-game divisional series. But that will be the best-case-scenerio in St. Louis.

Cubs
Just a couple years ago the Cubs were the most-wins NL team. This year, there isn't much to be excited about, other than the departure of disgruntled Milton Bradley. Soriano can't hit or run anymore, Derek Lee is old and getting hurt sitting in chairs, Carlos Zambrano is turning out to be an underachieving ace. It will be nice to have a healthy Aramis Ramirez for a full season (hopefully), and Geovanny Soto may bounce back. This is an average team without a lot of upside.

Brewers
CC Sabathia was here for just half a season but oh, what a half season that was! Too bad it was two years ago. Brewers made good by stealing lefty Randy Wolf from the Dodgers to strengthen their rotation, and like the Cardinals, the Brewers boast an intimidating 1B/OF combo with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, both who could be strong MVP candidates. The rest of the lineup is stronger than the rest of the Cardinals. Brewers underachieved last year but they should be better this season.

Reds
Oh, what's there to say about the Reds? Every year they add a player that might get them over the hump and people pick them to be the surprise team, and every year they flounder in mediocrity. This year's teaser is Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, who has a killer fastball and "light's out" stuff. He's someone that can potentially make some excitement. Other than that, Votto is a good player, Brandon Phillips is a decent player, Aaron Harang has been good a few years ago, and that's about it. Here comes Season #10 in a row under .500.

Astros
Surprisingly, the Astros have some potential for this season. They have some good pieces in their lineup with speedster Michael Bourn at leadoff, sluggers Berkman and Carlos Lee in the middle, followed by energy guy Hunter Pence, and a rotation filled with little warrior Roy Oswalt, dandy Wandy Rodriguez, and newcomer Brett Myers. Berkman had a down year, and while he's capable of rebounding back to All Star calibur, he's starting the season with injury problems already. The Astros will likely hang around the .500 mark all year, and if they put their annual string of wins together towards the end of the season they should have a shot at postseason contention. But Berkman and Oswalt need to be productive.

Pirates
Welcome to the worst franchise in sports. The Raiders have more potential than this sad excuse of a team. It's not that the players are bad, it's that the ownership and management are interested in something other than winning baseball games. Seriously, they will extend the longest streak of consecutive losing seasons in the history of North American professional team sports to 18 seasons this year. They've traded away every decent player to put on a Pirates uniform in the last 2 seasons and they are left with a motley crew of cast-offs and minor leaguers. They have only one player that recorded more than 440 at-bats last season. Okay, I'm being a bit harsh; they have some interesting players. I really like outfielder Andrew McCutchen. Garrett Jones displayed some power potential in the second half of last season. But the Pirates entire payroll will be less than a couple of individual players from around the league, and after being last in runs scored and near the bottom in team ERA, there is no indication that they are improving.

Season Forecast
Cardinals 89-72
Astros 84-78
Brewers 83-79
Reds 79-83
Cubs 78-84
Pirates 59-103

MVP: Albert Pujols
Best Pitcher: Adam Wainwright
Breakout Player: Aroldis Chapman