Quick tell me who your favorite team’s five starting pitchers are because from now on (with few exceptions), you’ll be needing one of them every day until the All Star break begins July 8th.

If you are the A’s, Mariners, Angels, Giants, Dodgers, Red Sox, or the Cubs you are in decent shape to either hold your position or improve in the standings.

Click “Read More” and I’ll tell you why.Seattle has settled in with Freddy Garcia, Joel Pineiro, Jamie Moyer, Rafael Soriano, and James Baldwin (at least until Paul Abbott reclaims this position in early July).

Seattle will set up their rotation in order to have Garcia, Soriano, Moyer and Baldwin ready for Oakland starting next Monday in Seattle. The series also will see the return of Edgar Martinez as full time DH.

Lou Piniella is so concerned about the lack of production from Mike Cameron, Brett Boone, and Jeff Cirillo that he is considering benching this trio for other lefthanded hitters.

The Angels are well prepared for their next three weeks with their five starters. Plus the Angels get the Orioles and Devil Rays for the week preceding the break. Don’t expect them to slump until after the all star game when they meet Oakland, Minnesota, and Seattle exclusively from July 15th forward. Watch out for Anaheim as they also get New York and Boston to start August.

The A’s are set with Aaron Harang and Cory Lidle occupying the four and five spots behind the big three. Oakland’s rotation for the big showdown in Safeco Field should be Lidle, Tim Hudson, Harang, and Barry Zito. Mark Mulder then would open the Giants series in Oakland Friday night June 28th.

The A’s close the first half with Minnesota and Kansas City at home.

Boston is appears strong with Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, John Burkett, Frank Castillo, and Rolando Arrojo. Something tells me the Red Sox offense better be ready to pick up the pitching, because this rotation will start to leak as soon as they don’t have any off days.

The AL East will tighten up and I think the Western teams are going to start putting heat on the runner up in the East, for the wild card lead over the next month.

The Yankees are in for a tough few weeks. Not only are they struggling offensively against righthanders now ( 3-4 in the last 7 games, scoring only 12 runs in 48.3 innings against righty starters), but their five starters are not clicking.

Roger Clemens turned his ankle in his last start, Andy Pettitte is rehabbing in the majors, Mike Mussina is himself (mostly good), David Wells is an enigma on the mound and off, and Sterling Hitch***** is not sterling replacing El Duque right now. With Mariano Rivera on the DL, this could be a rough stretch for NY.

Other than interleague, the Yanks get a steady diet of the Tigers, Indians and Blue Jays over the next four weeks. They better win now because it will get more taxing in August.

Teams without five legitimate starters include the White Sox, Tigers, Royals, and just about everyone else in the league.

These teams will be involved in many high scoring games over the next month and will fall further in the standings.

Minnesota has lost five straight to lefthanded starters and won seven of eight from righties over the past couple of weeks. Count on Oakland to throw Mulder and Zito as much as possible against these guys.

On the hill, Rick Reed, Kyle Lohse, Eric Milton, Johann Santana, and Matt Kinney have to carry the ball. Only a super bull pen is keeping this staff on top of the Central right now.

Of course, the fact that Chicago and Cleveland have not shown any consistency this season has helped the Twins chances to win this division.

In the NL, The Western teams will separate themselves from the other wild card contenders.

Expect Cincinnati to fall quickly unless they get some pitching help. Lefty Bruce Chen, obtained from Montreal, is supposed to help against the lefty hitting Cardinals.

Chen will pitch Thursday against the Mariners ahead of Joey Hamilton who now opens the Oakland series Friday.

The Cubs are poised and ready to roll. Mark Prior, Jon Leiber, Matt Clement, Kerry Wood, and Jason Bere will fall into place over the next few weeks. Moises Alou, Fred McGriff, and Sammy Sosa are due to get hot against some of the weaker staffs in the league.

If the Pirates get six or more innings from their starters, they are tough to beat. Pittsburgh has one more month before they fall apart.

St. Louis has Simontacchi, Kile, Williams, Morris and Bud Smith.

Houston has a virtual kiddie korps in their roation with another being added Tuesday night against Milwaukee(replacing Shane Reynolds).

This division will stay close as the lack of true depth in the starting rotations will keep it tight.

The Braves have the look of a first place team if they stay healthy. I wonder what’s up with Greg Maddux, he leaves so many games suddenly in the sixth or seventh inning, that it makes me wonder if he is sound.

Glavine, Millwood, Marquis, and Moss are fine and round out a good starting five.

The Marlins have potential. Burnett, Dempster, Beckett (when he returns), and Tavarez are OK, just too young to beat the Braves.

I still think the Mets with Estes, D’Amico, Trachsel, Leiter, and Astacio can weather the summer and stay with the Braves.

The Mets aren’t hitting and play lousy defense, which is killing them.

This will be a two team race before it is all said and done.

In the West, starting pitching will keep everyone close.

The Diamondbacks could use one more starter, but Schilling and Johnson are so good, that it may not matter.

The Giants have their five ready to roll. SF’s offense will click when they face teams that aren’t as deep as they are.

The Dodgers are the surprise. They keep their fingers crossed for Andy Ashby every time out, Hideo Nomo is due to get hot, Ishii is still OK, Odalis Perez can pitch, and Omar Daal is the weak link.

If their bull pen can stand the grind of not having off days this next month, they could take over the lead in the West.

Middle relief will now be a factor in virtually every game. Without off days, managers will try to conserve their starters.

So, beginning tomorrow, if the team you root for doesn’t have five healthy big league starters and some depth in the pen, then I hope you’ve enjoyed the first two and one half months of the season because you are in for a tough couple of months.

That’s baseball, it’s followed this pattern for over one hundred years.