I think all of these discussions, be it about the Brewers, about the Red Sox/Yankees, about the AL Central, are great to show the PARITY (god i hate that word but it's true) that is beginning to be prevalent in MLB. There was a time not too long ago when you could pencil in the pennant winners before the season started and then watch it come true like clock work. Those days are long gone and everyone notices it. The Brewers could win the division or the wild card. They could also underachieve again and finish 5th. Same with the Cubs. Same with Arizona. Same with Cleveland, and LAA and Toronto...on down the line. The only thing that remains constant is the fact that the Royals will be last in the AL Central.

1) Dodgers - They have the most complete team. The only issue is the Furcal injury.

2) D-backs - A bunch of talented kids with good defense and solid pitching... sounds kind of like what makes the A's successful each year.

3) Padres - Good pitching, not much in the way of hitting

4) Rockies - They have some really good players on the team, but they don't have the tools to put together a big run... yet.

5) Giants - I've seen some people pick them to take first place and write it off with the reasoning of, "Barry Bonds." The problem is that he isn't all that great since he stopped using the juice a couple of years ago (back when MLB started cracking down on it).


Any of the teams could legitimately be a contender (hence the valid Parity statement from Moonraker - despite the lack of NL West teams inclusion) only time will tell who wins it.