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by Digger

2008 National League baseball has been a battle in all divisions. Will this finally be the Cubs season? Can the Dodgers survive an injury plagued season? What happened to Arizona? Who is NL MVP?

Rivalries intensified recently as division foes executed rotation bolstering trades. Milwaukee nabbed CC Sabathia from Cleveland. The next day Chicago traded for Harden. July 31st is baseball's trading deadline. Who will be next to bolster their teams?

NL EAST
Phillies (53-45). Philadelphia just traded with Oakland to land Blanton. Blanton had a rough year out west and should rebound nicely just in time for pennant fever. Utley is having a MVP type season. Howard has struggled until recently. Former MVP Rollins has been off most of the year and could be the difference between a slight division lead and what should have been multiple games. Pat Burrell has quietly been team MVP with timely hits and homers. Until last year, the Phillies had always found a way to choke in September. Now they know how to win. Can they hold off the Mets and Marlins? It'll be close.... Yes, Philly to play Playoff baseball in October.

Mets (52-36). Willie Randolph is gone. He just couldn't motivate this team of underperforming stars. They've been on fire ever since Willie was canned. A recent 10 game winning streak suddenly found the Mets bucking for division honors. Oliver Perez seems to have snapped out of his early season funk and is needed if the Mets are to contend. Pelfrey has been a great surprise and steady work horse. Unfortunately, his teammates don't hit for him in the clutch. Delgado was hearing it from NY boo-birds until finding his stroke right before the All Star break. He needs to stay hot or the Mets are doomed. Injuries decimated this team and is wearing the roster thin. Pedro, Alou, Church, Castillo, Hernandez all hurt for extended periods. The Mets need to trade for a corner OF. Tatis is hot, but cannot be counted on to produce down the stretch. Plenty of players could be had as this team has a fully stocked minor league system. Without a deal, the Mets will get caught looking in from the outside come playoff time. Chavez/Tatis will not carry this team. NY to miss playoffs without a big time trade.

Marlins (51-46). One of baseball's bright stories in 2008 has been the resilient Florida Marlins. Left for dead by most experts, the Marlins continue to show off how well their young team plays season after season. Who needs to spend $250M when you can win for $55M? Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez have provided the pop up the middle. Timely hits by most players have won big games for the fish. They're in this race to stay. Young gun pitchers, hustling on the basepaths, chasing down balls in play and a manager's manuevers all paying dividends. These guys will be playing for the division crown from here on in. Look out for the killer fish...

Braves (46-51). Bobby Cox is doing the best with what he has left. Injuries have really crumbled this team. Smoltz, Glavine, Diaz, Escobar and others have thrown a wrench into Atlanta's season. Chipper has been the headline maker as he flirted with .400 for much of the first half. Francouer has been a major disappointment for Braves fans. This was to be his breakout year and it's been a breakdown season instead. Teixeira hasn't delivered as expected and could find himself on another team before long. Never count this team out but it's not looking good by any means. Wonder if Hudson is on the trading block? A few AL teams would love to get him for the playoff run.

Nationals (37-61). I wonder how long this team will be rebuilding? Seems as though it's been going on 20 years. Injuries, lack of depth, young inexperienced players... you name it... Washington is a long way from fielding winning teams. They will challenge for 100 losses.

NL CENTRAL
Cubs (57-40). Can the Cubs finally make it back to the World Series? Do they have what it takes to win? Yes. Will they? Check back with me in September. Piniella has had these guys firing away all season. So far so good but this is Chicago... they play in the leagues toughest division... and rivals are hot. Right after Milwaukee announced their Sabathia deal the Cubs had some news too... adding Rich Harden from Oakland. Chicago vs Milwaukee and Chicago vs St Louis will keep everyone's attention. Cubs strengths are pitching and depth. For the most part good health to everyone except Soriano has been a major key. A fight to the finish... Cubs hold on for division crown. Will the preseason rumor of O's 2B Brian Roberts become a reality? If it does, Cubs to Series.

Cardinals (56-42). LaRussa deserves big time credit for dealing with massive roster injuries, new players and rookies. The Cardinals have sucked it up and played great baseball so far. Pujols has been joined by surprise power hitters Ankiel & Ludwick to lead the Cards attack. Strong pitching from unlikely sources has kept these guys knocking on the door. It's tough picturing the Cards holding off Milwaukee or over taking Chicago. St Louis will just miss the playoffs... but don't be surprised to see them sneak in.

Brewers (54-43). Watch out. The Brew Crew are armed and ready. CC Sabathia has been lights out since his arrival. He's even homered from the dish. Sheets and Sabathia create a dynamic 1-2 punch. On offense, Fielder's power stroke is back and just in time. No lineup weaknesses at the moment as sleeping bats are suddenly alive and well... while pitchers seem to be in stride. Perfect timing for things to be clicking. It's Milwaukee vs Chicago for the Central title. Loser takes home the Wild Card and playoff birth. NL will be repped by NL Central in this years World Series.

Reds (48-51), Astros (46-51) and Pirates (44-53). These teams are cooked with no chance of snapping out of whatever has kept them down. Typical Griffey and Dunn trade rumors swirling again in Cincinnati. Interest has also been shown in Arroyo & Harang. Houston will probably not entertain any trades and Pittsburgh's asking price is too high as their youngsters are signed to management friendly deals. Pittsburgh has dangled Bay and Nady while most teams seem to have set their sights on all those lefties starting pitchers. Mets can use both Bay and Nady.

NL WEST
Diamondbacks (48-49). First place belongs to a sub .500 club. Arizona began the year on fire but has fizzled. Lucky for them, NL West rivals have stunk it up too. In 2007, with runners on base... no team was more clutch than Arizona. Timely hits game after game. It's just not happening right now. Starting rotation seems to be one game on, one game off. This team has plenty of talent... just lacks a spark.

Dodgers (47-50). Torre's first season in LA has been difficult. Injuries to most positional players has left this team scratching and clawing for runs... a common theme for recent Dodger teams. Furcal was team catalyst and is probably lost for the year. Andruw Jones signing may go down in history as one of the greatest free agent busts ever. Kent has been slowed by nagging injuries. Torre has used different lineups nearly every night. Even his pitchers are banged up. Somehow, this team is right in the middle of things. It's like a boat held together by scotchtape... sooner or later, the water will come rushing in and LA sinks.

Rockies (42-57). 13 games under .500 and still commanding attention as having a legitimate shot at capturing the division crown. If Colorado can reach into their bag of tricks from one year ago...? One hot streak could be all it takes. Don't count this team out. Colorado hasn't played well all season and they're still in the hunt. Look out, here comes Colorado.

Giants (40-57) and Padres (37-61) trail with no hope of climbing the ladder. No one expected SF to play well this year. The front office would be all too happy (and fortunate) to trade Barry Zito. San Diego... what happened? No offense, no pitching, no defense = no chance. This team has crumpled from within from day one. Big time changes will be made before 2009. No trade bait for this season. It'll be a tough ride for both of these teams.

Stay tuned for AL updates.......