Against his better judgement, the cheese will not throw in the towel, yet.

If you were paying attention, then you know that the 2007 baseball season officially opened yesterday. The Dodgers were in Milwaukee to open up against the Brewers. Now, the fact that the Dodgers garnered all of 2 hits, scored one run (on a Kent solo shot), and lost 7-1 might, in years passed, alarmed the cheese. But Ben Sheets, the oft-injured defacto ace in the land of beer, is actually healthy right now, and was at his absolute best yesterday. Plus, the Brewers are the cheese pick to win the NL Central (see below). And even though he wasn't exactly in top form, Lowe wasn't getting any close calls, so hey, there's still 161 games to play.

Even though everyone and his brother has made their predictions, the cheese will take a crack at it beginning with the National League...

NL East
1. NY Mets (even with a bunch of 80 year olds as a starting rotation this team will be hard to beat)
2. Atlanta Braves - Wild Card Berth (Bobby Cox doesn't have enough to overtake the Mets, but he'll see his team back to the post-season
3. Philadelphia Phillies - (Great offense, questionable defense, shoddy manager, near inept GM, and did you know Ryan Howard is actually OLDER than Albert Pujols?)
4. Florida Marlins (Mets, Braves and Phils will all be close, the Marlins won't, but their kids will make strides)
5. Washington Nationals (why did MLB even move them from Montreal? Now the fans in DC have to put up with this perennially lost franchise)
Overall Breakdown - the top three will make this division fairly competitive (i.e., difficult for the other two teams), and while the Phils have more talent than Atlanta, they're also saddled with Charlie Manual leading the team. Expect another year of under performance from the team from cheese steak land.


NL Central
1. Milwaukee Brewers (bit of a dark horse, maybe, but a healthy Sheets, Fielder and Co means this team can flat out play, and they're lucky enough to be in the weakest division in baseball)
2. St. Louis Cardinals (WS winners notwithstanding, last year was a huge fluke. Even with Pujols and Carpenter this is a .500 team)
3. Houston Astros (the offense will be better with a healthy Ensberg and Carlos Lee around to bolster/protect Berkman, but much of that will be negated by the 700+ errors Lee will commit in left field. After Oswalt they have no one to pitch)
4. Chicago Cubs (so much money spent for so little, Soriano can't play adequate defense anywhere, and why bring Ted Lilly to a hitter's park? Maybe they will 80 games, or maybe they'll win only 60)
5. Cincinnati Reds (had a decent run in 06 until the stretch, probably happen again since this team isn't particularly deep in any area, and their best hitter might strike out 200 times)
6. Pittsburgh Pirates (some decent guys on the roster, but a complete lack of vision from the top down means that the once proud franchise can expect another losing season)
Overall Breakdown - A defensable case could be made for any of these teams winning the division (though the Pirates would be a stretch, it COULD be possible). Really, it's going to be exactly like last year with the team reaching the 84 win mark (granted that's only three games over .500, and last year the Cards only won 82) taking the division crown. Really, you could just pull names out of a hat and have as good a chance of picking the winner.


NL West
1. Los Angeles Dodgers (upgraded rotation, strong bullpen, solid lineup. No real "homerun" threat, but they didn't have one last year and still led the league in hitting and finished third in runs scored).
2. San Diego Padres (having Greg Maddux and David Wells at the back of the rotation will tax the bullpen all season, and the bullpen is what really saved the Pads last year. Peavy will try and compensate and pitch deeper into games, he's not known for great durability, so expect a small/lingering to medium injury to hamper him, thus deflating the Pads chances at the post season)
3. Arizona Diamondbacks (next year they might be really tough, but this year they might be a bit too young, don't expect much from Randy Johnson even though he is back in the NL)
4. San Francisco Giants (why the hell would anyone sign Barry Bonds, even the Giro's, is still a mystery, add to that fact that there isn't a starter is SF under the age of 31, they're now saddled with Zito's ridiculous contract, and they have exactly one guy, a pitcher, who might get better in the future and the Giants fans are looking at a miserable time over the next several years)
5. Colorado Rockies (they've got a decent core of young talent, but without the humodor this year pitching a mile above sea level will be terrible yet again)
Overall Breakdown - It'll come down to LA and SD, again, but this time both teams won't make it to the playoffs with the East being so strong. All in all, there isn't a great team here, but the top three should all be close, and SF might hang around for most of the way if Bonds is reasonably healthy. LA gets the nod for its pitching depth and lineup depth. Hell, they had to send a guy (Loney) who hit .380 in AAA last season (and .440 in the spring this year) back to Las Vegas because there's no room for him on the 25 man roster. Maybe this year the Dodgers might win A playoff game, but the cheese isn't getting his hopes up.