The Cubs seemed like they were going to break their 100 year losing streak with the way they entered the playoffs last year. But it’s the Cubs. They are nearly as good as choking as the Mets. They had the best record in the National League but still fell short, losing three straight to the Dodgers. So what’s up this year? Hopefully the Cubbies can get back to their winning ways because they have what it takes to go the distance. This off season they picked up Right Fielder Milton Bradley from the Texas Rangers to help pump up their lineup. Bradley had a .321 average last year for the Rangers and hit 22 homeruns. Not that the Cubs needed help during the regular season because they scored the second most runs in the entire league (855). Hopefully it will pay off come playoff time though because their bats more silent than Helen Keller in church (six runs through three games…ouch). The loss of Mark DeRosa hurts at second base but the pickup of Aaron Miles isn’t awful. He just hits for average more than anything and he has been good in the field. Only had four errors last year, one of them while he was playing shortstop. Rest in peace Mr. Caray, but this year the “Cubs win! Cubs win!” their division again but don’t bet on them to win it all.
Crack a cold one for the Brew crew who did very well in the last half of the season. They met their match in the playoffs when the Phightin’ Phils took them down in four. Yeah it was awesome, but this year the Brewers lost the main reason they were even in the hunt last year. He went 11-2 in 17 starts with the Brewers…disgusting. Now he is a Yankee and the Brewers pitching staff is abysmal. Their starting five (which include a former closer) were a combined 35-34 last year. Wahoo! And other than Prince Fielder, their offense is mediocre. Don’t look forward to the Brewers making the playoffs this year. At best they’ll have a .500 record.
The Houston Astros haven’t done much this offseason to help their woes, but I imagine they will do better than the Brewers. The one thing I do like that they did was the pickup of Mike Hampton from the Braves. He was only 3-4 last year and is getting kind of old but he should help the Astros pitching staff from what it was last year. The batting average against them was .264 which was 11th (of 16) in the National League and they had 1095 strikeouts for 10th. Hampton isn’t going to be the deciding factor for the Astros and won’t send them to the playoffs but will ease the pain of Houston Texan fans every now and then.
Seriously though, the National League Central is a friggin’ thorn in my side. The Cardinals, Reds, and Pirates aren’t going to surprise anyone this year. The Cards kind of want to get Manny but probably won’t get him. The Reds acquired Willy Taveras which is a step up from Corey Patterson, but not a big enough step to get them in the playoffs. And the Pirates…THE STEELERS WON THE SUPERBOWL! Yeah it’s that bad for them, but who knows maybe their awful pitching, batting, fielding, and beautiful park will achieve the 70 game win plateau…or maybe they’d be better of becoming actual pirates?
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