I know it's early in the season but do you foresee a Mets collapse with a Phillies/Braves fight for first?
402873
Well, they are the Mets, aren't they?
206405
They're in a very tough division with the Braves, Mets and Nationals.\n\nTake it from a Yankee fan, losing Billy Wagner and gaining Tom Gordon isnt going to help.  He chokes under pressure like nobody's business.\n\nRyan Howard, Chase Utley, Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell will have to step up and carry the offense, and Jimmy Rollins needs to become a force at the top of the order for the Phils to go anywhere this year.
620905
The Phillies are gonna make some noise this year! Now if they can keep it up and not fall asleep in Sept. as usual!
1088419
Injuries, age and pitching. Also don't underestimate the loss of Leo Mazzone. He was a constant during the Braves run, and coincidentally, the Braves had annually the best pitching staff in baseball for many of those years. But don't count them out...I just have this feeling about the Mets collapsing.
512966
I really think and hope they will.\n\n\nGo Phillies!!!
244498
I think they will get into the playoffs, but by the wild card.  They have good new talent, but the team never really worked together, so they will not be too good at the beginning of the season, but will be great by the end to the season!  And I think that Brian Roberts will be able to play on opening day too!  I think that they will be able to beat the Red Sox, but probably not the Yankees with all their new talent :(:(:(:(:(:(!
583034
The Braves are never built for the playoffs. When the rotation  shortens they lack a superstar #1 and #2 starter, and teams seem to adjust to the hitters really well to the Atlanta bats in a 5 or 7 game series.
79060
This is OUR year. WE will dethrone the Braves. GO METS!!!
409997
im not a red sox fan but i believe off the top of my head they have the best chance. lost damon but got a solid man in crisp who is somewhat underrated and they added beckett to an already great pitching staff and of course ortiz and ramirez will get over 140 RBI's each this year. thought i dont think they will win it watch out for the mets a lot of big adds and i believe they will win their division. sorry ATL
709109
The Yankees... Yes  Definatly a silver spoon  buy your way to the top kind of team...\n\nThe Mets on the other hand... no series wins since 86' and the fans have become so accustomed to loosing that they make excueses before they even loose!! This year with Omar The Mets have worked very hard to get to the point they did, but unfortunatly injuries killed there game... (another fan bubble burst)  they built a team perfectly ballanced with vets and rookies with great potential (not all super-star status players that are overpaid and under-played) and the fans stand behind them no matter what... that is definatly one thing you can say about met fans... they are resiliant in good and bad times!
503306
Never?\n\nDivision Champs--1976, 1977, 1978, 1981\nNational League Champs--1915, 1950, 1983, 1993\nWorld Series Champs--1980\n\nLately, the problem has been the Atlanta Braves who are in the same division and have been the division champs for 15 years straight(except the 1994 'strike' year)...\n\nThe wild card is an option for them, unfortunately, there always seem to be one team who is a step ahead of them for that as well.  \n\nPhillies have the talent to be there this year as they have for the last few years.  If they would not fall apart at the end of the season as they have in the past, they could make it.
578086
I have been a Braves fan through the worst of years. Years when they really knew how to loose (I am talking about those years prior to '91 when the streak of division titles began). I have seen them come back from worse deficits with worse teams. I am not worried yet. If they are still this far behind in July/August, then I may worry. All you have to do is go to Turner Field and look at those banners and you can see a season where everyone swore they weren't going to win for one reason or another (They lost Wholers so who's going to close? They lost Glavin and Maddox, is their starting pitching going to crumble? Smoltz wants to go back to the starting rotation, who's going to close?). There's always something. But, at the end of the season, there's always a banner.
1170826
I doubt they'll make it even with both healthy and effective.  The Mets just don't have the pitching. Glavine and Martinez can pitch only %40 of the games. Even if both win every game they start thats still not even a winning team. Traschelle is stinking it up this year. El Duke hasn't been effective for years except for short bursts.  Soler show's promise but will likely wear down a bit towards the end of the season. \n\nIf the Mets lose either one they will drop dramatically. Even if they have both if both don't do well or if Wagner gets hurt the team will drop fast. If the middle relief corps struggles the Mets will drop. Wright, Beltran and Delgado make a good offensive core but rest of the line up is iffy except for Lo Duca. So this isn't a team that's going to win softball like hitfests either.\n\n---Added----\nI didn't see the bit about the Cards and Dodgers. \n\nThe Cards are still the team to beat in the NL. Good pitching, strong lineup. They are vulnerable in a short series though. Get past Mulder and Carpenter and the rest of the staff is pretty ordinary. Though most of their 3-5 starters could be a #1 on many staffs and #2 on most staffs. Good defense, no major holes in the lineup. Good clutch hitting. Ability to move the runner over, steal some bases. Very good all round team. \n\nThe Dodgers are overachievers so far this year. The amazing thing is half their starting lineup is on the DL and they are in first place. Might be time to reconsider who they are playing as the bench players and rookies are getting the job done. Penny always could pitch. He just gets hurt too often. Derek Lowe is doing a good job. Gagne is prob the best closer in the game right now. The outfield is a disaster. Cruz and Drew never belonged as a starter. Lofton was a great CF in his day. He's a bit old to be an everyday player now. So I think you'll see LA drop quite a bit before the year is out.
817758
The Red Sox are yesterdays news.  The will be lucky to finish behind the Yankees and Blue Jays.  Pretty soon everyone will be bailing out.  Schilling is done.  Pedro is in NY and Terry Francona may be the worse manager in baseball.  But don't fear Boston fans, 2090 is just around the corner!!!!!
392777
i think they have a shot at coming in 2nd in the division and maybe snagging the Wild Card.  it's really going to depend on how their pitching can hold up.  if halladay and burnett limit their trips to the DL and Ryan can close games effectively, they will do well.
934471
I guess you can say it this way, "I hope the N.Y Mets had a good time, because they are not going to win that division for a while."       I think the Braves are going to have an incredible season next year - like they have had in the past.  \n           \n          Why have the Braves been so good, for so long?  Well that would be the Bullpen.  The problem last year for Atlanta was that they didn't have a bullpen.  Their lineup and offense last year, and even their defense was almost unmatched - but without a bullpen to finish games, very few games are going to result with a W (win).\n\n           What is fun about the Braves is they take young players and raise and train them into outstanding athletes.  It isn't the Yankees, who can afford to buy an All-Star team every year.\n           \n           I could go on and on about the talent on the Braves team, like Chipper Jones, Jeff Francouer, Andrew Jones, Marcus Giles, Adam Laroche, Brian McCann, etc..., but the thing is, we have so much potential in the Bullpen - the Braves had a lot of key injuries last year that obviously made a difference.\n\n           So, what do I think of all this?  Well, it is simple, the Braves are going to definetly make the playoffs.  But this is where the next problem is, they have struggled in the playoffs.  I think it is all going to change this year.  Once they get the Bullpen figured out (and they will this year), there is no stopping the Atlanta Braves!
1037331
Not yet.  The problem is that there really is nobody to put up good competition in the Central this year.  I thought it was going to be pretty tough this year with the Astros and the Cubs' lineups, then Cincinnati and Milwaukee started playing well too.  But the Cards are on a 7 game losing streak and are still in first place by 1.5 games.  They have a tough game tonight, but I think they'll pull this one out, then they have one more against the Indians, a day off, then 3 game sets against Kansas City and Atlanta before closing the first half with a 4 game series against the Astros.  They're still looking at 50+ wins in the first half, with 76 to go in the second half.