The Philadelphia Phillies obviously remain the team to beast in this division. In fact, they probably remain the team to beat in the whole league. The 2008 world champions and 2009 NL champions added one of the best pitchers in the league in Roy Halladay. The only question for the Fightin’s is the bullpen, but that is a division-wide problem.

The Washington Redskins of baseball a.ka. the New York Mets had some of the worst injury problems in the whole league last season. They waved goodbye to Carlos Delgado and signed Jason Bay to a terrible contract in the offseason. Besides Johan Santana their rotation has absolutely no one. Besides Francisco Rodriguez, their bullpen is close to the worst in baseball. I think David Wright will bounce back. Also a healthy Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are keys to the Mets success in 2010.

The Atlanta Braves might have the best starting rotation in all of baseball. Youngsters Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurjjens will look to cement their names into the elite class of major league pitchers. Rookie phenomenon Jason Heyward will look to have a strong rookie season, and he will try to provide some much needed pop to a line-up filled with good hitters. They Braves did lose key members of their bullpen in Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez.

As is the case every year, the Florida Marlins will take the field with the lowest pay-roll in baseball and they will still find a way to compete. A nice rotation of Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez, Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volsatd, and Nate Robertson. Hanley Ramirez is my pick for NL MVP in 2010 and he might be enough to lead this Marlins team to a successful year.

The Washington Nationals improved their pitching by adding veteran starter jason Marquis and closer Matt Capps. They also have a good line-up that includes Ryan Zimerman and Adam Dunn. However until Stephen Strasburg joins the big league club, there will not reason to watch them.

Predictions:

1. Braves

2. Phillies

3. Marlins

4. Mets

5. Nationals