National League
By Jim Lachimia

NL Central

St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis made a mockery of this division last year with a potent offense that led the N.L. in runs scored and a balanced rotation featuring four 15-game winners. Albert Pujols has the look of a Hall of Famer, averaging 40 homers and 126 RBI over the past four seasons and hitting at a .333 clip. St. Louis lost a pair of Gold Gloves when C Mike Matheny and SS Edgar Renteria signed elsewhere, but fortified its starting staff with left-handed ace Mark Mulder from Oakland.

Houston Astros

Life can be cruel. Houston fans got a taste of what Carlos Beltran could do last fall when he hit .435 with eight homers in the postseason. Then the multi-talented centerfielder was rudely snatched away by the Mets to the tune of $119 million. How much longer can Roger Clemens, Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio be expected to deliver at ther high levels? But the Astros will still be respectable because of a starting rotation that includes The Rocket, a hopefully-healthy Andy Pettitte, and Roy Oswalt. Plus, Brad Lidge is a bona fide "lights out" closer.

Cincinnati Reds

It once was insane to say the Reds don't need Ken Griffey Jr., but Cincinnati has plenty of firepower without him. Their names are Adam Dunn, Wily Mo Pena and Austin Kearns. Dunn set a major league record by striking out 195 times last year but hits the ball a country mile. The Reds made some strong off-season moves, shoring up the starting and middle relief pitching.

Chicago Cubs

Sammy Sosa and Wrigley Field seemed like one of those made-in-heaven marriages that would last forever, but it was not to be. In addition, Moises Alou signed with San Francisco. So the Cubs lost two of their four 30-homer guys from last year and replaced them with Todd Hollandsworth and Jeromy Burnitz. Whew! Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez do return. If Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are healthy, the starters can be as good as anyone because Carlos Zambrano is nasty and Greg Maddux is still--well, Greg Maddux.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Finally, there are plusses. Jack Wilson became one of the league's best two-way shortstops last year, and Jason Bay and Oliver Perez performed beyond expectations and have created excitement. However, questions abound. Can Kip Wells stay healthy? Can closer Jose Mesa perform as brilliantly as he did last season? Will Matt Lawton play well enough? How will losing Jason Kendall affect the pitching staff?

Milwaukee Brewers

An anemic offense wrecked Milwaukee's

04 season. The Brewers' .248-team batting average was the worst in the majors. Only Arizona scored fewer runs. They added Carlos Lee, but the line-up still isn't scary. Ben Sheets is one of the league's elite starting pitchers, but trading All-Star closer Danny Kolb to Atlanta for Jose Capellan was a risky move.

NL East

Atlanta has won 13 straight division titles, and that alone could justify blindly picking the Braves to finish first again. John Smoltz returns to the starting rotation after averaging 48 saves the past three seasons and Danny Kolb, an All-Star in Milwaukee last year, replaces him in the pen. Atlanta also acquired ace Tim Hudson, 92-39 in six seasons with Oakland...Florida didn't make it back to the playoffs last year after winning the '03 World Series. But the Marlins grabbed headlines this winter by signing masher Carlos Delgado. Adding Al Leiter helps ease the loss of Carl Pavano, and if Guillermo Mota can handle the transition from set-up man to closer, this club can go places...Philadelphia has gotten 89 homers and 236 RBI from Jim Thome the past two years, so he wasn't the reason the Phillies failed to make the playoffs. Losing starters Randy Wolf and Vicente Padilla, plus closer Billy Wagner for extended periods hurt big time. Philly added centerfielder Kenny Lofton and sinkerballer Jon Lieber...New York was the winner of the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes, and that alone greatly increased expectations. They also signed Pedro Martinez, and although the feisty 33-year-old is not as dominant as he once was, he did go 16-9 with 227 strikeouts in 2004...Washington might be the weak sister in this division, but the former Montreal Expos improved themselves by signing N.L. RBI champ Vinny Castilla and shortstop Cristian Guzman as free agents. They also added temperamental but highly productive outfielder Jose Guillen.

NL West

San Francisco finished one game out of the wild card playoff spot last year, and seems determined to get back to the postseason for the fourth time this decade. They were active in the off-season, adding last year's N.L. co-leader in saves in Armando Benitez, a pair of Gold Glovers in catcher Mike Matheny and shortstop Omar Vizquel, and outfielder Moises Alou...San Diego was the most improved team in the league in 2004, winning 23 more games the year before. The Padres were able to deal Oliver Perez because they have another young stud in Jake Peavy, who went 15-6 last season and captured the N.L. ERA title with a 2.27 mark... Los Angeles won the division last year, but was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round. They lost N.L. home run leader Adrian Beltre to free agency, but got power back by signing outfielder J.D. Drew and second baseman Jeff Kent. Former Red Sox star Derek Lowe was added to the pitching staff...Arizona should be far better than that sorry unit that lost 111 games in 2004. Yep, even without Randy Johnson. Arizona has added former A.L. home run champ Troy Glaus and another power bat in Shawn Green. Russ Ortiz, Javier Vazquez and Shawn Estes will be plugged into a rebuilt starting rotation... Stop me if you've heard this one before. Last season Colorado scored plenty of runs, but posted the worst team ERA in baseball. The bullpen blew a staggering 34 saves in 2004, and the Rockies are still searching for an answer there.