1. Los Angles Dodgers
2. Arizona Diamondbacks
3. Colorado Rockies
4. San Diego Padres
5. San Fransisco Giants

The Dodgers may have the best pitching staff in the game, top to bottom. Their rotation is strong up front and deep, and the bullpen is also strong and deep. The lineup is getting better in a hurry with the development of all the young players, notably James Loney and Matt Kemp, and the addition of Andruw Jones. They should be very sound defensively. New manager Joe Torre has already shown the willingness to trust the young players more than his predecessor by benching out maker Juan Pierre. The Diamondbacks also feature a strong 1-2 punch in the rotation, but don't quite have the depth that the Dodgers do. Their bullpen won't suffer as much as you might think from losing Valverde, they still have several useful options. On the hitting side, they feature a plethora of young talent, backed by several useful veterans (Hudson and Byrnes) but the team will need to get on base better than they did last year. The D-Backs vastly outplayed their pythagorean record last year, and they'll need to get better in many areas to just tread water record wise. That being said, I think they will take those steps forward because they are so young and talented.

The Colorado Rockies are going to score a lot of runs. Their lineup is deep and balanced, filled with patient bats that will take a walk and let the next guy do the driving in. They are also very sound defensively, which should help the pitching. That being said, I don't see the pitching holding up like it did last year. The rotation is relying on several young and somewhat shaky pitchers to play large roles (Jimenez and Morales) and their front end of Cook and Francis just isn't as good as the other two. Their bullpen, especially after the first two spots is where I expect the real dropoff from last year. This team is dangerous, but ultimately I don't think they can hold up in the pitching department. I have no confidence in picking the Padres to finish 4th, because they always seem to outplay their talent. The rotation is strong up front, but fairly weak at the back end. The bullpen is deep, but Hoffman is slipping hard over the past few years. I have no faith in the lineup, but they always seem to score plenty of runs on the road and have reinforcements coming. The Giants are a mess and should be torn down and rebuilding, around their young duo of aces in Cain and Lincecum. But they continue to trot out their geriatric lineup, augmented by Aaron Rowand and his bad contract. The less said about the money still owed Barry Zito, the better. they should be able to stay in some games, but it's hard to see where the scoring will come from now that Bonds is gone.