1. New York Mets
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Atlanta Braves
4. Washington Nationals
5. Florida Marlins

The Mets are probably the most balanced team in the National League this year. They have a good rotation, fronted by two likely Hall of Fame members in Martinez and Santana and with other very useful options like Maine and Perez. The bullpen has another possibly Cooperstown bound guy in Wagner and there are other options as well. The infield features the best left side in the game with Wright and Reyes and the rest of the lineup has guys who are suited to their roles and the team figures to score a lot of runs. There are some age concerns here, but their best players are on the right side of 30, so that isn't a huge deal. The Phillies will score a ton of runs. There has been talk they could make a run at the NL record. They are a patient bunch, willing to take a walk and have quite a bit of power. Feliz was a savvy addition, due to the fact that the team could afford the OBP hit and could use the help defensively. The problem with Philly is the pitching. After Hamels and Meyers, the rotation is very shaky and the bullpen is a big question mark. The Braves, like the Phillies figure to score a lot of runs. Not as many, but they will put some big numbers up. They feature a lineup with no real holes offensively and are strong up the middle. The bullpen is also fairly strong. The problem with Atlanta is that I have no faith in Hudson and Smoltz to stay on the mound and after that you have the withered husk of Tom Glavine and lots of big question marks.  Atlanta could slug their way to second, but the pitching will have to stay healthy to do so.

The bottom end of the division has good long term potential, but their prospects for this year are fairly dim. The Nationals figure to score more than they did in the past with the move to the new park and the addition of a few young reclamation projects in Milledge and Dukes. Those two have a chance to prove that they deserve to join Ryan Zimmerman in the long term plans of the team. Their pitching is far from "good" but they have some live arms in the rotation and the bullpen is fairly sound. They plan to build up the minor leagues and get a young core in place, then unleash some serious spending power that comes from playing in one of the top 10 markets in the game. Now that the Marlins (seem to) have a stadium plan in place, they too figure to move into the ranks of big spenders somewhere down the line, by virtue of playing in a very big market. They have a solid young core built around Ramirez, Hermida, Willingham and Uggla. The problem is that their young pithing still hasn't recovered from the beating they took in 2006 under former manager Joe Girardi. Nearly all of the arms that made that rotation a surprise in 06 will spend 2008 recovering and coming back from injuries.