Baseball Predictions: Part Two

We know that the Yankees will take the AL Championship Series over the Angels and make their way to the World Series. No surprise with their newly bolstered pitching staff. On to the NL. Often referred to as the weaker league, the NL has won the last two World Series (Giants/Cardinals) and the past few All-Star games. So who will win this year? NL playoff predictions after the jump.

NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Miami Marlins
3. Washington Nationals
4. Atlanta Braves
5. New York Mets
Synopsis: The pitcher-heavy Phillies will eke out a division title over the star-studded Marlins. The Phillies will struggle with the loss of Ryan Howard (Achilles), but the starting staff will shut down any offense you put them up against. A new closer and a revamped offense will prove a winning combination for the Miami Marlins. No team has a better left side of the infield (Hanley Ramirez/ Jose Reyes) and ace Josh Johnson will bounce back from an injury plagued last season to win close to 20 games with a sub-3.00 ERA. With a cast of young superstars (Bryce Harper/ Stephen Strasburg), the Nationals will finish just out of playoff contention; this sets up a bright future as the Phillies begin to show their age in the next few years. Unable to recover from last years collapse, the Braves will fall far in Chipper Jones' final season. Although having a strong bullpen, the Braves' cast of mediocre position players will prove their downfall. The Mets? Well, they are still the Mets.

NL Central:
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Pittsburg Pirates
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Houston Astros
Synopsis: This was the hardest decision to decide who would come out on top. None of the NL Central teams have the look of a World Series contendor and the top two teams lost their top hitters to the AL (Pujols/Fielder). Compounded on top of this, the Cardinals lost ace Carpenter for the season. The Reds are continually mediocre and will under preform. The Pirates, despite having a star centerfielder in Andrew McCutchen, will finish another year under .500. The Cubs and Astros will fight to not lose 100 games.

NL West:
1. Arizona Diamondbacks
2. San Francisco Giants
3. Los Angeles Dodges
4. Colorado Rockies
5. San Diego Padres
Synopsis: The Diamondbacks were the surprise team of the NL West last season and everyone will see them coming this season. It won't change anything. They will still beat out the Giants by a few games for the division title for one simple reason: they can score runs. The Giants scored the least amount of runs in the NL last season. Ian Kennedy will be a Cy Young contendor again this year and B.J. Upton will have a career year for the D-Backs. The Dodgers will bounce back under new ownership, but won't be able to compete in a stronger NL West. The Rockies will stumble to a fourth place finish, and I see Jim Tracy losing his job at some point during the year. The Padres lost the biggest contributor to their phenomenal bullpen to free agency and will falter to a 90 loss season.

Playoffs:
Wild Card: Giants over Marlins
Division: Diamondbacks over Phillies, Cardinals over Giants
Championship: Diamondbacks over Cardinals
Synopsis: The Giants will use their playoff experience to beat the Marlins in a one-game playoff but won't be able to score enough runs to beat the Cardinals. The Diamondbacks are a team that can get hot and stay hot coming into October. They will use that momentum to play their way past the Phillies and a weakened Cardinals team. The lack of Chris Carpenter will hamper the Cardinals in a tiring 7-game series, and the Diamondbacks will capitalize on this.

So now we have the Diamondbacks and Yankees in the World Series. A Game 1 match-up between C.C. Sabathia and Ian Kennedy will thrill, but the strength of the Yankees lineup will overpower the Diamondbacks. The only thing that will help the Diamondbacks is that the young starters for the Yankees (Pineda, Nova, Hughes) may tire out after a long season and won't be able to compete with the hot Diamondbacks bats. Prediction: Yankees in 6.