And finally the National

League East.

By Amaury Pi-GonzálezAmerican League (East)

1-Atlanta

2-Philadelphia

3-New York

4-Montreal

5-Florida

1-Atlanta. The rich gets richer.

The Braves lost Tom Glavine

to the Mets, but they got

Russ Ortiz from the Giants

Mike Hampton from Colorado

and Paul Byrd from Kansas

City, their best pitcher.

Therefore, the rotation

this year is this:

-Greg Maddux

-Mike Hampton

-Paul Byrd

-Russ Ortiz

-Jason Marquis

With four of these five on

top potential to win 20 games

each, the Braves still have the

best starting pitching.

Then their bullpen with

John Smoltz, Ryan King,

Darren Holmes,Kevin Gryboski

and Mike Venafro.

Their lineup is solid, Furcal-

-Giles-Chipper Jones-

-Gary Shefield-Robert Fick-

-A.Jones-Javy López and

Vinny Castilla.

Catcher Javy López had

a bad knee and ended

season with a .233 average

with 11 Homeruns and

52 runs batted in.They need

Javy in this lineup. Henry

Blanco is the other catcher

and Maddux’s exclusive catcher,

but Blanco is just basic

defensive catcher. More

important for Javy López

to comeback with a good

offensive season in 2003.

Bobby Cox was the first

N.L manager to arrive

at five 100 wins season

as his Braves went

101-59 last season.

John Smoltz saved 55

games out of the bullpen

a remarkable number for

a man that not very long

ago was given for

“arm dead”. The irony

is that Smoltz until last

spring wanted to be on

the starting rotation again.

Braves pitching (as usual)

would give them to their

12th straight Divisional title.

2-Philadelphia. Great free agents !

They now have Jim Thome, David

Bell and Kevin Millwood. And those

acquisitions make the Phillies

a serious contender to win

this division. Maybe even a

playoff berth as Wild Card.

In 2002 the Phillies finished 1

game under .500 (80-81)

There are no more distractions

in the ‘city of brotherly love’after

Scott Rolen left last season for

St Louis. One less problem

for manager Larry Bowa.

Offense: Powerful lineuo

with Jim Thome and around

him guys like Rollins, Abreu

and Burell. David Bell (Giants)

was a great pickup for the

Phillies, he is a real team player

that can play various infield

positions.

Their pitching rotation doesn’t

seem to have the punch of

the Braves but is a formidable

one with Millwood-Wolf-Padilla-

-Myers and Duckworth.

Kevin Millwood won 18 games

last season and Nicaraguan

Vicente Padilla won 14. Padilla

has one of the best sliders

in baseball.

Their bullpen is formed around

veteran José Mesa.

They hit 316 doubles, tops

in the National League.

Good bunch that Larry Bowa

has this year they could scare

the Braves.

3-New York. Art Howe got a

real big contract in the Big Apple

and will try his luck with a team

that underachieved last season.

Howe won 383 games as manager

of the Oakland A’S during the

past 4 seasons.

There is a case to be made that

the Mets lineup is a better one

than that of the Braves, if you look

at Cedeño-Piazza-Floyd-Vaugh

and others. But you can also

make a case that the Braves

pitching is stronger.

The Mets pitching is very

experienced: Tom Glavine,

Al Leiter, Steve Traschel and

then a bullpen anchored by

Dominican flamethrower

Armando Benítez.

4-Montreal. They are playing 22 games

in Puerto Rico, although their

most popular broadcasts are

in French language, merci.

There is no truth that the

French broadcasters surrender

prior to the season begining !

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson

heads this “foreign legion”of a

team into this 2003 season with

a bunch of good and great

young players.

Guerrero-Vidro-Cabrera-Chávez-

-Tatis….wait a minute, is this

the Caribbean World Series,

most of the Expos stars are

Latinos. And then their pitching

too….Armas-Vazquez. Wow.

This is not a team you like

to face, they can beat anybody.

Poetic justice they will play

regular “home”games in

Puerto Rico with all those

Latino players.

5–Florida. Not enough.

Embarrasing franchise that

have been drawing more fans

in Spring Training games than

during their regular season games

at Miami. Their stadium is not

a baseball park, located at

199th street almost outside

Miami is not really a good place.

_____________________________________THAT’S ALL FOLKS !

LET THE BEST TEAMS

WIN AND LET’S HAVE A

GREAT SEASON.