GO: NL Central

Standings will be like this:

(Homer Pick) (My Optimistic Pick)
Cubs Cardinals
Cardinals Cubs
Brewers Brewers
Reds Reds
Astros Astros
Pirates Pirates

Reds pitching staff is average and last year they played badly against +.500 teams. That was in a year where they were pretty healthy and there key players had good years. They have good young players but so do the Cubs.

Brewers have good hitting and a nice rotation but i think guys like McGehee and Hart will fall off. Axford has to prove he’s a solid closer. But i could see them being a dark horse to
be #1

Cubs wont lose so badly to Pirates and Astros. Bullpen will lose less games. Hopefully fewer down years by Hitters. Rotation should be solid. Defense will improve on the infield. Quade will be a plus over Pinella. Projections have them being around 80-84. I see them around 85-88 wins. I guess i have enough faith in the young guys like Castro, Soto, Colvin, and Cashner to have big years

Of course Cardinals have good hitters and excellent pitching. They could fail if Carpenter gets injured and Garcia has a soph. slump.

Astros and pirates will mostly be at the bottom.

1) Brewers. That pitching staff is phenomenal, and the hitters have all aged together and have hit their prime. Smart move to go for it in Fielder’s last year.
2) Cardinals. First thought about Reds here, but the Cards still have two aces, great middle of the order and La Russa putting together the bullpen.
3) Reds. Dusty with these pitchers another year is the other reason I’m dropping them down. Great lineup though, and if Chapman turns into the starter everyone imagined, the Reds may repeat.
4) Cubs. I’ve liked the moves for Garza and Wood and feel better about Pena than most on here. One offensive black hole in the lineup at 2B is not going to hurt the team that much. If everything aligns, the Cubs can contend, but this division is much more like the AL Central from the past few years, with 3-4 viable contenders and . . .
5) Astros. Had the Pirates here until I went back and saw the improvements they had made. Nothing world-beating, but enough to keep the last team in their place.
6) Pirates. Thought it was the year for them to emerge from the cellar. Then I looked at Houston’s new position players and Pittsburgh’s starting staff. Just not enough there with three guys who are all within two years of debuting, I believe. Next year, they may finally be worth mentioning.

What’s scary is I can see the Cubs finishing in any place in this division. A return of Aramis, a good year from Pena, improvement from Soto, Colvin and Castro, Soriano playing OK and not getting hurt, and the pitching doing what it’s capable of, and a wild card run is in the works. A couple of those things not go right, we’re in the middle. All of them go wrong, well, the Pirates would not be in the cellar anymore.

I interpereted this the same way as Dragon.

Cubs >> Crew > Reds > Rats > Cards > Stros

I really don’t dislike any teams…just deplore fair-weather fans in general. I’ll sit and have a friendly arguement with any real baseball fan, but cant stand listening to a crisp-Phils-cap-wearing asshole tell me how talented Shane Victorino is.

I’m a Cub fan…so I have equal disdain for every other team in the NL. Sure the Cardinal fans are the ultimate douchebags, but it doesn’t make me like the team any less. I couldn’t like them any less.

This is a Cub fan blog, so It should be a priori knowledge that Cubs be listed first.
2 Pirates 3 Astroholes 4 Brewers 5 Cards 6 Reds.
Hey Cap, shouldn’t you be on the slopes by now?
The Local weather guy this morning twice pointed out a current temperature of 54 degrees, and less than a minute later predicted a high today of 50. And we wonder why America can’t compete in Math and Science anymore.

I love me some Cubbies!

As for everyone else, I’ll root for the Astros so long as they aren’t playing the Cubs, or contending against them. Had season tickets to their AAA team for too long to not root for those guys when I can.

Otherwise I don’t dislike the Pirates, but the Brewers, Reds, and especially the Cardinals can go sit on a snake.

Cubs
Pirates
Astros
Brewers
Reds
Cardinals

Although living in cincy it was so annoying to watch everyone pretend that they have been reds fans for years last year

Ah, well, just beat the punch on my yearly wrong predictions that sometimes I post online. As for any affinity:

Cubs, Brewers, Reds, Pirates, Astros, Cardinals. Reds and Pirates strictly because they employ fellow former Bulldogs, Brantley in the booth in Cincy and Maholm on the mound for the Pirates. True story, I believe Paul started the only baseball game I did PA for in college. Tricky last name, but I didn’t mess his up.

Ok thought you meant favorites to lead the division.

Cubs, Brewers, Pirates, Astros, Cardinals, and Reds.

Reds get the bump to worst because Votto is a douche and Dusty is their manager.

Reds and Cardinals are gonna be on the bottom 90% of the time.

Just for the record Lizzie, I thought your question was straight forward and easily understood. I assume if you wanted us to predict the final standings for 2011 you would have said, “hey, what is your prediction for the final standings of 2011″. Good thing Dragon was around to straighten this group out, just sayin Elwood.

For those of you following the Pujols contract talks…

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6025055

ESPN is reporting that Gary Matthews, Keith Moreland, Doug Glanville, Dave Otto and Glen Beck are finalist in replacing Ron Santo. No mention of Mark Grace, Steve Stone, Bill O’Reilly or Mad Guitar Murphy, bummer.

Neither one Buddy, Matt nor Mad were mentioned. Did you known their are 3 siblings actually, Mad Guitar Murphy, Matt Guitar Murphy and Mason “Flute” Murphy. Mason is considered the black sheep of the family, Mason can be heard touring with YoYo Ma and is not being considered as a replacement for Ron Santo.

Chuck’s a cousin, born to Charles and Celia Murphy. Chuck is Dale’s brother.

Dale played in the bigs.