National League Central Preview 2005

1) Chicago Cubs: In our mind, three things point to the Cubs winning the NL Central this year. First of all, pitching makes teams great, and this staff has Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, Greg Maddux, and Glendon Rusch. �Nuff said. Right now, their staff is injured and depleted, but can you imagine these guys fully healthy and throwing well in August? It's scary. Secondly, with the Red Sox finally winning it all, isn't the clock now ticking on this franchise? And finally, we're firm believers in clubhouse chemistry. Sammy Sosa can jack them out like few others, but he was a malcontent who abandoned his team. He's in Baltimore now, and the rest of the squad seems pretty tight-knit. They'll miss the run production from Sosa and Moises Alou, so hopefully Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee can become 30 HR, 100 RBI guys this year. Jeromy Burnitz should drive in some runs, and Nomar is playing for a long-term deal. Corey Patterson needs to improve his OBP, and Jason DuBois has limited bat, but improves the outfield defense. The bottom line in Chi-Town is this: the Cubs have a bunch of question marks on offense, certainly. Their pitching is superb, and their bullpen is decently deep. The latter fact will allow them to stay in games they're struggling in because of the former fact. That, and you just gotta believe karma is on their side now, don't you?