Continuing with my March assignment for the United Cardinals Bloggers, it’s my National League Predictions blog. The NL is much more exciting this year than the American League in my opinion.

I think the National League East could be a mess. I am not sure what way to go here so educated guess is my choice.

NL East:
Washington Nationals
Atlanta Braves
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Miami Marlins

The Nationals have a lot of pitching. They have a good offense and defense but pitching wins championships. The Braves surprise a few people after recovering from some injuries. The Mets are fueled by their GM’s prediction of a 90 win season but fall about 10 games short. The Phillies need to rebuild. There is a lot of drama in Philadelphia. Those poor Marlins fans.

The National League West should be the toughest division in baseball. Lots of what ifs here.

NL West:
San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers (WC)
San Diego Padres (WC)
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies

I do not like the team makeup in Los Angeles. Too many chiefs and not enough indians. Dodgers are good enough to get the top Wild Card though. Giants win this with pitching and luck. The Padres are my surprise team this year. They are the anti-Dodgers with lots of team chemistry and a desire to win. I see quite a few walk off wins in their year ahead. Arizona will be a .500 team but that is not good enough in the West. Rockies will excite early and then fall late.

Ah, last but not least, My Cardinals and the NL Central. Many believe that the Cardinals have improved while the Pirates and Reds got worse. I tend to agree.

NL Central:
St. Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago Cubs

The Cardinals breeze their way into the playoffs. They may be the only team over .500 in the division. They could win it by 10 games, easily. The Brewers hover around that .500 mark all year. Reds get grit with the Skippy addition but it’s not enough as Cueto or someone else does something stupid. Pittsburgh is Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutcheon and not much else. I have become an Anthony Rizzo fan, but come on, it’s the Cubs.

I will do a separate blog on post season predictions later this week.