Brewin' a Winner

While you are on your 'personal day' from work tomorrow with your eyes glued to the television like one of those 21st century poster-children who can text more words per minute than stenographers can type, take a brief moment off to think about baseball. After recently previewing the bottom 3 teams of the NL Central, we have now moved onto bigger and better things. And, it's my pleasure to say that I think the Chicago Cubs are in that category (my glass is nearly overflowing from being half-full). It is mid-March, a time period in which i know that college basketball reigns supreme, but with Illinois (our state's only representative) 24 hours away from yet another early exit, it might be time to focus our mind towards the MLB, more specifically the top half of the NL Central.

Brewers- I have to admit, I love the Brewers' ambition. For 2011, Milwaukee's "Crew" has done nothing short of pushing all of their proverbial chips into the proverbial center of the proverbial table. Their lineup has always been potent. After seemingly locking up Ryan Braun until his clothing deal with Affliction comes to a close (sometime around 2018?), the Brewers have an NL MVP candidate in the middle of their lineup. Plus, the Hebrew Hammer has more swag than anyone in the NL. The dude does more bat-flips and stare-downs after 400 foot lasers than a character from 'Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest'. Also, to protect him, the Beermakers have the human cue-ball, Casey McGehee, to go along with everyone's favorite chubby Princess.

At the trade deadline last year, the Brewers opted to hold on to Fielder instead of trading him for parts, knowing all too well that they would get nothing more than a coupon booklet for assorted Chinese buffets after this coming season comes to a close. They also signed Rickie Weeks to a hefty off-season contract. The money's going out, and it seems obvious to think that the runs will be coming in.

But, what killed the Brewers a year ago was their men on the molehill. The Brewers somehow let Dave Bush start 31 games last year! And they expected to win? Turns out, Bush turned in Rick Vaughn spring training-like numbers and the Brewers didn't end up "#winning" (Charlie Sheen/Rick Vaughn, get it?) too many games.

So Milwaukee went out and rescued Zack Greinke from Kansas City. Poor guy got shipped from Missouri to Wisconsin; the first person, place, or thing to do that since a pre-packaged cube of colby-jack. Hopefully one day he'll have saved enough paper to retire somewhere entertaining, but that is neither here nor there. With the addition of Greinke and his wavering mental health, the Brewers now have a reasonable 1,2 punch in line with Greinke and Yovani Gallardo.

If Greinke and Gallardo each can muster 12 or 13-win campaigns in 2011, and Corey Hart doesn't ink himself up with another series of tribal forearm tattoos, the Brewers should have enough to finish on top of a bad division.

Reds- Dusty Baker, young power pitchers, a city deprived of anything meaningful in terms of baseball for a long time I think we all know how this story ends. It culminates with Dusty puncturing the roof of his mouth with his customary toothpick after he realizes he turned his ace's arm into a tube of Gogurt.

The Reds were last year's media darling. Joey Votto put up MVP numbers, Brandon Phillips played with a chip on his shoulder the size of his 34-inch bat, and the Big Red Machine was revived, or so the the people of Cincy thought. But Dusty Baker cannot escape his own curse. This Terrance Mann lookalike has had 2 winning seasons in his last 7 as a manager. What is he good for? Absolutely nothing. In the end, the Reds finish 2nd in the Central--a handful of games back of the Brewers in a close late-September race.

Cubs- The recipe for the Cubs success is very simple. The people who you are paying ludicrous amounts money need to produce. I know it's a novel concept, but it hardly has been a realistic one for the Cubbies over the past 5 years. For one, we've all realized by now that Kosuke Fukudome is not Ichiro, nor will he ever be--but he needs to stop swinging off the tops of his shoelaces. When his tenure in Chicago finally comes to a close, Fukudome's legacy will undoubtedly be a Clark St. restaurant in which he affectionately titles "A Wok to Remember" rather than his four years of hitting .260 and going through more shin-guards than an AYSO soccer star.

Along with him, Soriano and Aramis need to be remotely productive to keep the Cub fans off the guardrails of the Madison St. bridge. Then, Carlos Pena will only be asked to hit above the Mendoza line (.200) and crank a shot onto Sheffield every 4th game. Easy enough, right?

Another point of concern for the Northsiders is their starting pitching. They have less left-handed action in their rotation than a southpaw student with a bottle of lotion alone in his college dorm room. With all of these "ifs" laid out on the table, the Cubs do have some potential. They boast some rapidly improving young talent in Starlin Castro and Tyler Colvin; two guys who can will the Cubs to a few day-game victories when the rest of the team would rather be knee-deep in the whirlpool. Is this the year? Eh...no. But at least we're not the Pirates.

There you have it, your NL Central predictions. Regardless of who wins, the team that comes out alive will get swept by the Phillies faster than a crumb off of the counter in the NLDS. My glass is now officially empty.

As for Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man has added the Indiana St. Sycamores to his picks to cover tomorrow. They're getting 12.5 against the Syracuse zone in the opening round. I have no doubt that the Orange will see the 2nd round, but the Sycamores are a feisty bunch with the ghost of Larry Legend on their side.

Pick of the Day: Indiana St. (+12.5) @ Syracuse- INDIANA ST.

Record:(61-46-0)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost