Who wins the World Series this year? I say da CUBBIES!

I refuse to even consider us not at least making the playoffs this year. The lineup should be good (so long as Cesar Izturis hits 8th all year. Hell, when Zambrano, Prior, or Marquis pitch he should bat 9th), the rotation should be solid, the bullpen should be breathtaking.

I wish I could agree with you, however I believe that this team will only win 85 games and will compete for a playoff spot, but come up a little short. As far as your analysis about the rotation: Mark Prior has been hurt for the better part of two years, Jason Marquis had an era above 6 and was so valuable to his team that he was left off of their playoff roster. We are counting on a young Rich Hill who is for all intensive purposes a rookie. Ted Lilly, who is switching leagues, is a solid pitcher, and of course, Zambrano is a stud. As far as the bullpen, they are solid, but I am worried about Dempster as the closer. He blew way too many saves last year. The lineup is solid, but still has too many strikeouts and not enough contact hitters. In reality, the stars would have to align in an amazing way for this team to get into the playoffs.

The Cubs will annihilate everyone in their division. And the Mets don't scare me. Yeah, they have a great line-up, but they're pitching is T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E!! The Cubs pitching on the other hand is very promising. Zambrano is the second best pitcher in all of baseball. Rich Hill is the real deal. Lilly was always decent in the AL, now he moves to the NL and does away with the DH...he'll be damn good. I'm not a big fan of Marquis, but the guy gets the job done (statistically, more so than any other pitcher in the bigs the last three years running...by the way). I think Prior's days are over, but Angel Guzman is as some of you stated earlier a very promising pitcher. Wood's career will be resurrected as a closer (his job at some point in the year), and their bull pen is not bad. Offensively, everyone is right on the money. WE'RE DIRTY! We can hang with anybody now. I look for Philadelphia and Milwaukee to give us our biggest competition in terms of making it to the Series. As far as winning the Series, boy, I don't know...they're some TOUGH teams in the AL, but I'll tell you this, The White Sox aren't one of them. They're days are over, much to the delight of us Cubs fans. Some famous computer software program accurately picked 5 of the 6 division winners last year. That same program this year predicts the Sox to win 72 games. That's it. Wouldn't that be music to the North Siders ears?