National League Predictions: World Champs May Make Another Run

Good morning everybody!

I gave you my thoughts on the American League yesterday now here are my predictions for the National League.

NL East: See my first blog post

NL Central: I believe this division has 3 good teams with the Brewers, Reds and defending champions Cardinals. With the Cardinals they are moving on from the Albert Pujols era but return a solid supporting cast including former all stars Carlos Beltran and Adam Wainwright, (signing Beltran as a free agent and Wainwright is returning from Tommy John surgery). They have a solid line-up featuring such players as Matt Holiday and Lance Berkman. Their rotation has the chance to be very good with the return of Wainwright to pair with staff ace Chris Carpenter & Jamie Garcia. As for the Brewers they will be moving forward from their own superstar with Prince Fielder signing with the Tigers. What the Brewers have currently is the reigning MVP in Ryan Braun and maybe the best starting staff in the division lead by Yovani Gallardo and Zack Greinke, not to mention they have the best bullpen with closer John Axford & set-up man/backup close "K-Rod." As for the Reds they did not lose their slugging first baseman Joey Votto but rather signed him to a monstrous contract extension that all but guarantees that he will be with the Reds for the rest of his career. Along with Votto the Reds have solid starting pitching and a good bullpen, unfortunately newly signed closer Ryan Madson is lost for the year with you guessed it, Tommy John surgery. As for the Cubs, Astros and Pirates well there is always next year. Prediction to win the division: St. Louis Cardinals

NL West: The common theme for the NL West for the most is good starting pitching pair with average offensives. The perfect example of this being the San Francisco Giants, who have the best pitching and maybe the worst line-up. Led by Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain the Giants will be in a lot of games unfortunately unless they have career years from Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval I don't think there will be to much hope on the Bay this year. The Rockies maybe the exact opposite of the Giants as they boost maybe the best line-up in the division but when 49-year-old Jamie Moyer is your number two pitcher then what does that say about your rotation depth. The Diamondback are an interesting team as they have both depth with their starter and a solid offense lead by the young superstar, yes I said superstar Justin Upton. Prediction to win the division: Arizona Diamondbacks

Wild Card Winners: Miami Marlins & San Francisco Giants