NL Central

The teams:
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Houston Astros
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals

The outlook: Ugh, the defending World Series champion only won 83 games last year?!? C'mon! 83 would have been good enough for fourth in the AL East, fourth in the AL Central, third in the AL West, third in the NL East, and third in the NL West. No one is happier with the six division system than the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals.

So what does that mean for 2007? Mediocrity or better puts you right in the hunt, and that's good news for everyone else in the division -- mainly the Cubs, Astros and Brewers. (Sorry, Reds and Pirates).

The Cubs threw money around like a yuppie bleacher bum trying to impress his waitress at Hooters, but all the money in the world can't fix Mark Prior or Kerry Wood -- both are starting the season on the disabled list.

Meanwhile the Astros lost Andy Pettitte to the Yankees and Roger Clemens to his now yearly diva ritual where he is too cool for the first half of the season. Get over yourself, Roger. Either you want to play or not. It's baseball -- that's 162 games, of which you'd only be asked to play every fifth day. Most of us work five days a week or more in a row on two or fewer days of rest. And you don't even have to wash your own jock. Come over to my house and we'll do laundry after I've put in a day at the office. Then you'll see how easy it is to sit around for four hours spitting sunflower seeds in between starts.

The Brewers have a lot of nice pieces that if they fit together could make for a winning combo.

Spaulding prognostication:
The Brewers will have the Chorizo for the entire season. Look for that to add some spice to the ballpark and push the Brew Crew into the postseason.

NL Central champion -- Milwaukee Brewers