The tournament is set up in a bracket formation in which brackets of four teams play against each other for the chance to move on. For the men there were eleven brackets which automatically sent the best team into the single elimination tournament, while sending the five next best teams. The women had only eight brackets, and only the bracket winners were deemed worthy to move on.

The men’s team began the trip with a dominating 39 point victory over University of Indiana’s Air Force, and then beat the “Instant Thunder” of Virginia Polytechnic Institute (or, more commonly known as Virginia Tech) with a convincing 11 point victory. Finally, Marquette Navy men towered over Western Michigan with an impressive 75-25 victory which the sent the men’s team riding high into the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, the men lost 43-27 to rival Wisconsin-Madison’s Air Force ROTC team in one of the most physical games of the entire tournament. Senior Joe Beres’ expectation of the game did not match up with the result, “We sought retribution for our varsity team’s pre-season 73-62 loss over Wisconsin, but that didn’t quite pan out. Still, it was a fun and fulfilling experience.” What are you going to do now, Joe? “I’m going to Disneyworld.”

The Navy women on the other hand swiftly defeated opponents Michigan, Iowa State, and Illinois Institute of Technology. Then in the first round of the playoffs, the Navy women beat South Dakota State (a team that prevented their chances from going to the playoffs in 2009) by 18. In the championship round for the women, Marquette Navy lost a heartbreaker to previous tournament winner IUPUI. Despite the loss, captain DonnaJo Meyer said of her team, “We did a really good job improving from our first game to our last. We played a very athletic team [in the championship], but stayed calm and collected, and our three freshmen players [Courtney Martin, Aracely Macias, Nikkol Rajkovacz] really stepped up.” The number one seeded Navy women lost by 3 points, with a final score of 28-25.

Marquette Navy won seven of nine overall and outscored their opponents by over 120 points. Notable players included monster-rebounder Theodore Linn and finesse sharpshooter Michael Tomsic on the men’s side, and offensive powerhouse Courtney Martin and defense-penetrating DJ Meyer on the Women’s. This year’s teams brought home three trophies, two for division wins (men and women) and one for the women’s runner-up. To add to the success of this year’s Notre Dame tournament showing was the varsity team’s exciting 70-68 finish over UConn, Marquette’s third win against ranked opponents. Oh, and it was AT UConn.

Next year look for Marquette’s Navy teams to do even better, with only a total of three seniors graduating this May. At this rate, they might be able to get themselves a champion’s trophy.

The Marquette Golden Eagles, led by Jimmy Butler, manhandled the Centenary Gents 85-62 last Friday and walked away with a win in the opening game of the season. The win came without the help of the big three who graduated last year and left Marquette with only one of their starters from last year and little chance of being a legitimate Big East contender. Okay, so it was Centenary, a school with less than two thousand students and a team that had lost its two best players from transfers. And yes, it is a school that is starting a transition from a Division I school all the way down to Division III. I get all that and yet I am still impressed by Marquette’s performance Friday night.

There are three big reasons why I loved Friday’s game, the first and foremost being that MU basketball has officially kicked off. Another reason is that Jimmy Butler was able to take the team on his shoulders and slice the Gents’ D for a career high 27 points and that is not even mentioning his 13 boards. This is huge because it shows Buzz and the rest of MU nation that all the pressure may not have to be placed on Lazar Hayward. Butler is apparently ready to help in the role of the team’s star player. In fact, we could be looking at a dynamic duo, something that was not expected earlier in the year. Seeing If Butler can continue to light up the score board like that he may be able to fly under the radar up until Big East play. That is because teams are still going to be expecting the same player that averaged only 5.6 points a game last year. Yes truth be told we must realize that we were not playing the most defensively gifted team, but still 27 points is 27 points. From the looks of it he is going to be a threat to put up a double-double every night. However, it obviously was not just Butler playing out there and the entire team looked sharp and was able to avoid an early roadblock against Centenary.

Conveniently that leads to the third reason why Friday left me feeling pretty good about our squad this year. The fact that we beat the Gents soundly is a good sign because in the past Marquette has let lesser teams hang around in games, provided those teams survive the opening minutes. I know what you might be saying, Centenary was leading at one point with nine minutes left in the first, how is that a good sign? Well here’s how, we were able to overcome a slight surge by the Gents (10 point run) and soundly put them away for the rest of the game. I for one found this to be a good sign because there is nothing worse than being in the spot Mississippi St. is in and lose the home opener. That is not even considering the fact that it was a loss to a team that was supposed to increase the post season résumé. This win is important considering the fact that Marquette is going to need every win it can get its hands on if the NCAA tournament is going to be a legitimate goal. Plus, Marquette has had a past of letting lesser opponents hang around, and let a fluff game become an early nail biter that no fan wants to see at home in November.

It was hard to tell whether or not Friday was a good example of what we will be looking at in the coming games. Buzz used a lot of guys and gave everyone decent minutes and if anyone remembers last year, a deep bench is not really Buzz’s style. Eight players saw more than fifteen minutes of playing time on Friday and that should tell us that he is trying to get everyone as much playing time as possible. However, the fact that Acker saw less than half the game is a little concerning considering he became a team saving replacement ball-handler once James went down last year. Whether he sat out because Cubillan has gotten that much better or he does not need the minutes as much is still yet to be seen but it is something to keep your eye out for over the next couple games. Dwight Buycks looked good in his MU debut and looks ready to handle the role of being a starter in his first year in D-I. There are still questions that Marquette needs to answer such as who will be getting the majority of the playing time, but that is going to be addressed over the next couple games.

With a few more games against teams from small conferences, it is going to be important for Marquette to ready themselves for a much tougher stretch of games. The next couple of weeks are going to be strong indicators as to how this team of new faces can handles a tough field in the Old Spice Classic. However, we can worry about that when the times comes. For now let us enjoy a sound start and hope the strong play continues. Plus MD-Eastern Shore and Grambling St. should be fun blow-outs to watch, so stop by the Bradley Center to cheer on our team.

Well, sort of. With the impressive start they are on, Milwaukee could very well be contenders for a playoff spot this year. And with 20 year-old Euro-leaguer Brandon Jennings on the court, the possibilities are more than endless. That’s right, Jennings found a loophole: he was the first high-school kid to ditch college and go for the pros since the NBA instituted the age restriction rule. The pros so far as the Italian team, Lottomatica Roma, which although it may not be an NBA franchise these guys still know how to ball. In the first seven games Jennings has averaged 34 minutes in which he scored 25.6 points per game. After just dropped a two point nail-biter to the Dallas Mavericks in OT, the Bucks are 5-3 and are right behind Cleveland  for control of the Central division.  That’s right King James and the Cleveland Cavs are the only better team in a tough division right now. I have not not even mentioned the 55 he just dropped against Golden State. Heck, he did not even score in the first quarter so that is 55 in just three quarters!

Let’s do some comparing around the league to show just how impressive Jennings has been: Dirk Nowitzski averages 25.7 ppg, 37.5 mins for Dallas, Manu Ginobili averages 15.6 ppg, 25.5 mins for the Spurs, and Paul Pierce has 18.4 ppg with 34.5 minutes for the Celtics. Aside from being superstars in the NBA, these players have led all their teams to the NBA finals over the past four years. When the Mavericks went in 2006, Jennings was just 16 years of age.

If he keeps this up, he can expect a hefty pay raise once his contract with Milwaukee nears an end. Let us check those previous stars’ bank accounts: Nowitzski’s payroll: $19.8 million, Ginobili’s payroll: $10.7 million, Pierce’s payroll: $19.8 million. Brandon Jennings? $2.2 mil. Congratulations Milwaukee, your eye for bargain young superstars won out this time. This diamond in the rough has been a rare gold mine for Milwaukee – seriously, we get more bang for the Buck.

All dull puns aside, the Bucks have a lot of work to do, with upcoming matches against Charlotte, San Antonio, and Orlando through the end of November. We will have to see what this Italian Stallion lefty, who’s  probably younger than most people reading this article, has in store for his new town.  After dropping 55 on Golden State, who knows what kind of limit is in the sky for this diaper dandy. Finals, perhaps? Playoffs, at least? I think so.

Move over, Michael Redd: this young’n straight outta Compton is finding himself among the high-rises and stars of Milwaukee – and will probably be there for a while.

When most people think of football on Sunday, they think of professional teams grinding it out on the gridiron. However, on the eighth of November, an annual tradition was continued at Valley Fields that many students may not be aware of. For the past several decades, the men and women of Marquette’s Army, Navy, and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps have gathered to play several games of flag football against one another.

Despite being played in front of a small audience of ROTC instructors and students, these games carry the weight of bragging rights for the winning teams for an entire year. “The games mean a lot because they are a means to compete against our counterparts in a less formal environment, pomp and circumstance aside.” said the Navy ROTC team captain Cletus Ketter.

“Competitions are displayed on a much larger scale on national television between West Point and Annapolis. However, it means just much to the ROTC cadets and midshipman who are itching to take the field and show the other branches who deserves to be the best man to man and in the need. In the end, we will be the same rank as the players on the Academy that are seen on television.”

What these matchups lack in hype and a big stage, they make up for in intensity and passion. All of the teams have very athletic competitors, who leave all of their emotions out on the field. The ROTC flag football games generally become tackle football and the refs do not stop the cadets and midshipmen from having their fun. Unlike the intramural games, pass rushers and blockers can use their hands and fumbles are live.

This year Navy dominated the competition. They secured wins over both Army and Air Force in the women’s and men’s games due in a large part to a strong interest from their freshman class. In fact both Navy teams did not give up a single offensive touchdown all afternoon. With these victories, Marquette’s Navy ROTC will be able to hold win back “the Jug” from Army. “The Jug” is just what it sounds like, a trophy jug which the winner gets to hold onto until the next time they lose. They were also able to win back “The Boot” (which is surprise, surprise a mounted boot) a trophy the Navy midshipmen have withheld from Air Force for the past several years.

Meanwhile, the female Army team was able to post a crushing shutout win over the female Air Force team while the male Air Force squad overcame a surging Army team. Each of the matchups featured all the exciting plays of any college or pro football games including option reads, diving catches, a pick six, ankle breaking cut backs, and even a shanked field goal. Okay, so maybe it is not the same level of talent, but it is just as exciting nonetheless. These events may feature the traditional competition between rival branches of the military, but in the end they are all in good fun because every competitor is really playing for the same team.

April normally provides more questions than answers but it still is not too early to see what lies ahead. For example, the Washington “Natinals” are now so bad that they cannot even correctly spell their names on their jerseys. Also, teams are quickly discovering that the New York Yankees have just built a Coors Field East as New Yankee stadium has morphed most routine fly balls to right game changing home runs.

Despite all these new revelations, old habits die hard, and this year appears to be no different. For instance, the AL East is probably going to once again see the tightest race in baseball, or despite how good the Chicago Cubs look they are still going to choke come October, and finally how the Milwaukee Brewers have shown that one year is one too many for post season appearances. All that is certain about the 2009 season is that it’s still a long ways from being over and until then anything could happen; but if you are the impatient kind here’s what will most likely happen this season.
NL West: The NL West is the definition of mediocrity as far as baseball is concerned. There is just nothing that is compelling about this division. These teams cannot compete with the upper echelon in the National League (let alone the American League) and will once again only send one team limping into the playoffs.

To be fair, both the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers have had strong starts, but once the grinding 162 game schedule kicks into full gear, it is hard to see them keeping up. The Padres simply do not have the talent and there is no way they can continue playing at their current level. Sorry, but it’s a fact. The Dodgers could keep up their high caliber play as long as they stay healthy, but Manny Ramirez is already beginning to whine about his billion dollar contract and you have to wonder how long before he starts throwing temper tantrums mid-game.

With the exception of the Arizona Diamondbacks the rest of the division is just plain boring. Arizona has the best pitchers in the West but have looked uninspired in April and this is not a team that is known for excelling in September. Look for the Dodgers to take the pennant without too much of a struggle but do not expect much from them after that; unless they are playing the Cubs in the NLDS again. Then, a sweep is likely.

NL East: The NL East has only one certainty as the season approaches May, and that is that the Washington Nationals are awful. Their manager has already called for a complete overhaul and the season is not even 25 games old. Other than that there looks to be a three team race (sorry Atlanta Braves you are fooling yourselves) between the Florida Marlins, the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. Florida has seen the best start in baseball at 11-2 and this young team is starting to turn some heads, but it’s a tough buy when placed up against the Mets and Phillies.
New York is a good team and Johan Santana is disgusting on the mound and currently has a .46 ERA which is mind-boggling for a starting pitcher. But this team is the Cubs of the regular season in that they have gained the reputation of choking come September as opposed to October. With the Phillies as their competition I think the Mets are looking at Wild Card.

The Phillies have lost little from their World Series team of 2008 and that means that Brad Lidge and Cole Hamels are behind the mound with Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are going to be cranking out RBI’s every night. I think this team is poised to go to the World Series yet again, and if they play in October and November like last year, the title will be theirs.
NL Central: As good as the teams in the division may be, there should not be much of a race this season as the Cubs are stacked in every position and looked poised to lose in October yet again. They successfully do what New York cannot: bring in the best as well as having a great farm system. Their enormous bankroll has allowed for the scariest pitching staff in baseball as well as pretty dangerous hitters.

Last year’s Wild Card Brewers can generate a lot of runs, but their pitching is walking everyone and allowing too many runs. If they do not make changes soon they are looking at a record well under .500. The rest of the division is good, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros both could see 90 wins but they will not compete with the Cubs. If the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds were in the West they could possibly take the pennant, but are not good enough to seriously compete in the Central.

AL West: The question this season for the West is: Can anyone compete with the Los Angeles Angels? The answer simply is no. They won 100 games last year and are much stronger than anyone else. The Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics are a lot better than a year ago but still not nearly good enough. The loss of Nick Adenhart was a tragic setback and has obviously shaken the team, but with the rest of the team knowing that he’s watching over them, it could provide the drive to excel in the postseason.

AL Central: The Central is much like the NL East in that the only certainty is that the Kansas City Royals are not going to be contenders. The Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers have too many questions and their lack of offenses are going to hurt them during the summer. The Cleveland Indians were one of the better teams after the break last year but their dismal start kept them from being competitors that season, so this year the question will be which Cleveland team will show up.

The Chicago White Sox can compete with the big boys of the American League despite half their batting order needing walkers to run the base paths. They are going to be dangerous this year and should win the division but need to hope that their players do not break down during the long season.

AL East: The classic two horse race in the East has all of sudden morphed into a three-team competition and will be extremely close come September. The Yankees have once again bought all the best players in the world and still managed to have a game in which they allowed 22 runs. However, they have a death row of starting pitchers that features the workhorse C.C. Sabathia not to mention the addition of Mark Teixeira and the eventual return of Alex Rodriguez. That being said they will still be on the outside looking in come playoff time as both the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays should advance. The Rays will be taking the AL Wild Card but I think they’d be fooling themselves if they think they can steal the pennant from the dangerous Red Sox.

The Sox should emerge on top in this behemoth of a race between these three teams and could be looking at a World Series shot. It will be the Angels and Red Sox in the NLDS and the winner of that series will be a result of knock down drag out fight between the two.

The news got worse when Brewers GM Doug Melvin lost in the bidding race for C.C. Sabathia and was reluctant to show much interest in the oft-injured Ben Sheets (still a free agent), who reportedly still needs elbow surgery.

The two acquisitions to the pitching staff, Trevor Hoffmann and Braden Looper, have not exactly aroused the fan base, but can be serviceable. Hoffmann, the all-time saves leader in Major League Baseball, is 41 years old and not the pitcher he once was, but nonetheless can be effective. It must also be noted that Hoffmann is sure to be more reliable than Gagne, who did not make the team in spring training. Braden Looper has been okay as a back-end starter since he converted from reliever, posting a career 3.93 era. If Looper can pitch 200 innings and keep his ERA under 4, the Brewers will look at this one-year signing as a success.
Young starter Yovani Gallardo is the unquestioned ace of the Brewers rotation. Gallardo missed most of last season when he tore his ACL in April. He showed a lot of grit and toughness when he returned for one start at the end of the year. Aside from Gallardo, the Brewers will hope that southpaw Manny Parra can regain the form showed showed early in 2008.
Heading into Tuesdays game against the Phillies, relief pitcher Todd Coffey has not allowed a run in 16 of his last 17 appearances. Aside from that the rest of the Brewers pitching staff is really up in the air.

The team will have to lean on its offense for run support if it hopes to be competitive.

The Brewers lineup is almost identical to how it was at the conclusion of the 2008 season. Ryan Braun has solidified himself as the franchise player out in left field. Braun has taken a strong game on the field into the media spotlight as he is enjoying several new endorsement deals.

The other superstar, Prince Fielder, finally got the money he wanted in the offseason and seems to be content at first base.

Look for young players like third baseman Matt Gamel and shortstop Alcides Escobar to see time as the season progresses. Gamel and Escobar are the top two prospects in the Brewers system and they played with the team in spring training but will both start the year in AAA so they can play every day.

If the Brew Crew can build on a more experienced offense and get a few relievers to step up, they stand a good chance to get back to the postseason in 2009.

Villanova has seen their Big East fortunes completely reversed after starting just 2-3 in the conference. The Wildcats have pulled off a convincing five game winning streak and find themselves looking to make it six and put themselves only two games behind first place University of Connecticut. With all these huge factors leading into Tuesday’s game there was no doubt that this was a game no true basketball fan would want to miss.

In a game that was as important as it was offensive, Marquette unfortunately could not pull off the needed win. Villanova just seemed unable to miss a shot in their offensive showcase against Marquette Tuesday, and although the Golden Eagles started off hot enough to stay ahead of Villanova they just could not score as much or as often against the Wildcats. The guard-oriented Golden Eagles were beat at their own game against the red-hot Wildcats who scored 100 points in consecutive Big East games for the first time in school history. They were able to utilize Marquette’s lack of depth as the game wore on and that depth allowed them to quell every potential run Marquette tried to string together.

Both teams were lighting up the boards offensively with each team shooting over 50 percent. But in every area that Marquette excelled, Villanova simply excelled more. Marquette shot 51 percent but Villanova shot 58, including 72 percent in the second half. Marquette hit 47 percent of their three balls but Villanova shot an insane 54 percent. It just seemed that when the Wildcats decided they wanted to score they would make a three pointer or drive in the lane and drop an easy two. The man behind the Wildcat’s scoring blaze was junior guard Scottie Reynolds who erupted on the Golden Eagles for 27 points, which included five three pointers. Marquette answered with 23 from McNeal – giving him the all-time Marquette scoring title – and with 22 from Lazar Hayward who was on fire early but cooled off significantly in the second half.

Villanova simply just kept the Golden Eagles at bay throughout the entire second half and kept them from ever getting closer than their five point halftime deficit. In the end it resulted in Villanova pulling away with a convincing 18-point victory and their sixth straight Big East win. Marquette looked poised to close the gap several times in the second half including back to back slam-dunks by James and McNeal, but Villanova would just hand the ball to Reynolds who would stroke a three without hesitation.

Offensively Marquette had a great game, and if it was any other shooting night for any other team, they would probably have walked away with a solid victory. However, when a team is as zoned into the basket as Villanova was on Tuesday, it takes an enormous defensive effort to stay in the game and the Marquette guards just did not seem up to the task.

There was one proud moment for Marquette. The Golden Eagles now have a new all-time leading scorer. McNeal, who started off the game shaky (started 1-7 for 3 pointers), rebounded well and was able to score 23 points which surpassed George Thompson’s 40-year-old record and now has 1,776 career points.

The Golden Eagles look to bounce back from this disappointing loss on Saturday against the bottom-feeding Red Storm of St. John’s at the Bradley Center.

This loss obviously hurts for any Marquette fan but the Golden Eagles need to get past it and seize the home stand before they run head on into the hardest part of their schedule.

Wounded, but not dead, recent play has shown that the Bucks have chosen to brush aside excuses and fight on.

Last Saturday night against the Detroit Pistons the team forced a thriller of a game, ultimately falling in overtime, but carried nonetheless by second year point guard Ramon Sessions and his career high 44 points.

The plague of injuries began with former All-Star Michael Redd, who was declared out for the season after tearing both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in the January 24 game against the Sacramento Kings.

The hardships proved incessant when center Andrew Bogut was ruled out indefinitely with an incomplete stress fracture in his lower back. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bogut, who had struggled with the injury throughout the season, will be reevaluated at the end of March when the team has only seven games remaining. So it is almost safe to say that his latest injury will keep him out for the remainder of the season.

Looking to add some depth at the shooting guard position, Milwaukee proceeded to trade for shooting guard Keith Bogans, sending backup point guard Tyronn Lue to the Orlando Magic.

Then, almost simultaneously, starting point guard Luke Ridnour suffered a broken thumb during practice, keeping him out for up to four weeks. In a matter of seconds, the Bucks went from having three point guards in their rotation to one: Ramon Sessions.

But the Bucks and head coach Scott Skiles have no choice but to go with the flow. “The script is the same, it’s just that the actors have changed,” said Skiles before Saturday’s game against Detroit.
In the team’s first game without all three starters, Skiles replaced Ridnour with Sessions, rookie Luc Richard Mbah a Moute filled in for Redd, and veteran Francisco Elson slid in for the injured Aussie.

While the team ultimately fell to the Pistons, in order to continue a run towards the playoffs the Bucks will need consistent effort from players who stood in the shadows only weeks ago.

As Sessions showed, every player will be forced to elevate their game in order to necessitate a competitive basketball team.

Skiles, in his first year with the team, has already made long strides with players and fans. Milwaukee, coming off a very disappointing 26-56 season, is only three victories away from surpassing last year’s win total and have been flirting with the last two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.

As of Sunday, the Bucks sit half a game back of New Jersey for the eigth spot and three games back of Philadelphia for the seventh in a likely battle for a daunting best-of-seven series against Boston, Cleveland or Orlando.

Although making the playoffs would be extraordinary, at this point, the Bucks should be simply hoping to build off their efforts of late and limp into the All-Star break without losing their entire roster to injury.

Even so, at the start of spring training, all things are equal. Many questions are left unanswered, and there is not a team that does not have a hole somewhere. With that said, there were some teams that had a really good off-season, and others that did not.

The big winners this year were the New York Yankees. Who would have guessed that the rich get richer, but in actuality, they did lower their payroll.

The Yankees were able to lose Jason Giambi’s enormous contract along with Bobby Abreu’s and Mike Mussina’s. They re-signed Andy Pettitte back into the rotation, but at a reduced price, and added A.J. Burnett and Cy Young award winner CC Sabathia to front it. Their rotation is now Sabathia, Burnett, Chin-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte and Joba Chamberlain. Pretty impressive.

Then just add in the fact that they signed Mark Teixeira, one of the best all around players in the game, to man first base, and the Yankees are looking good. I am not naming them champs, but they had a very successful off-season.

With that said, lets take a look at who is going to win their divisions this season. I will start out with the American League.

In the East I am actually going to pick the Boston Red Sox over the Yankees, because of how Sabathia pitched in the AL last year, Burnett’s health history, Chamberlain is still an unknown and Pettitte is old.

The Red Sox have a peripheral of starting pitchers that includes Josh Beckett, Dice-K, Jon Lester, Brad Penny, John Smoltz, Tim Wakefield and more. That is what I call depth, and their lineup is pretty good too.

The Tampa Bay Rays will be good again, but a repeat of what they did last year might be asking for too much.

In the Central, I will go against my gut and pick the Cleveland Indians. They are the only team that has really improved in that division over the off-season. They addressed their biggest off-season need by getting closer Kerry Wood and set-up man Joe Smith. The bullpen was horrible for the Indians last year, but there was not a better team in the second half last season and now their bullpen should be solid.

The Chicago White Sox made a few moves, but they were for future seasons and not for this one. The Minnesota Twins are staying relatively stable.

Now for the West. I cannot bring myself to vote against the Los Angeles Angels, so I am picking them. The Oakland Athletics are still an unknown, especially with so much youth, but they could be a factor. I do not see the Seattle Mariners improving and the Texas Rangers still need a few more pitchers, but they are improved.
The Angels pitcher John Lackey will be a big plus, as he will actually pitch a full season. The bullpen took a hit losing Francisco Rodriguez, but they did get two-time All Star Brian Fuentes as a replacement. And I just cannot pick against the Angels while they have Vladimir Guerrero.

For the Wild Card, I am going with the defending AL champs and taking the Rays. They have a solid rotation and a good lineup. The bullpen is good, it still needs one more arm, but it is serviceable to win games. After seeing this team play last year, they are for real. They are not the rookies from two seasons ago.
The National League is a little more up in the air than the American League.

In the NL East I see the Philadelphia Phillies getting a third win in a row, but still needing 11 more after that to tie the Atlanta Braves. The New York Mets starting pitching is not intimidating and the Braves lineup could be inept. The Florida Marlins could make a run, as they have talent and a good manager, but I doubt they can pull off winning the division.

The Phillies have decent starting pitching, a decent bullpen and a killer lineup. That should be enough for them to win it. It was last year, and they now have a better rotation and lineup than they did 365 days ago. There is that small fact that they did win a World Series last year.

In the Central I see the Chicago Cubs taking the division. They have a good rotation that is fronted by Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden gives them a nice one-two punch. If they can keep Harden relatively healthy, they should be fine. The lineup, as it has been the past few years, is a potent one.

The St. Louis Cardinals have too many questions with their pitching and the Milwaukee Brewers lost Sabathia and Ben Sheets and replaced them with Braden Looper. Yovani Gallardo is back from injury, but that will not be enough for the Brewers. The Houston Astros do not have the pitching and the Pittsburgh Pirates are the Pirates.
The West is a bit tricky. If the Los Angeles Dodgers re-sign Manny Ramirez, then I choose them to win the division. If the New York Giants sign him, then I pick the Giants. If neither team signs him, then I choose the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I know none of you want to hear that, so I will just hope Manny re-signs with the Dodgers and pick them. The Diamondbacks have great pitching but not enough hitting. The Giants have young pitching, and that is premium but they too need offense. The Dodgers are in the same boat, and if they get Manny, they have offense.
The NL wild card is a tough decision. I am pretty certain that the team will come from the NL East, but it is a tough call between the Mets and the Braves. The Mets have a spectacular bullpen and a good lineup with weak starting pitching. The Braves have a good rotation and a potentially very good bullpen with a weak lineup.
I am going to pick the Braves for two reasons. First, I cannot in good faith pick the Mets. Secondly I do believe that the Braves will acquire a power hitting left fielder to fill the gap in the lineup and that will put them over the Mets. If Tim Hudson can come back in August, and the Braves are in it, a one-two punch of Hudson and Derek Lowe is pretty good.

Well, there they are, your 2009 division champs. Go place your bets in Las Vegas and use this as a guide. No guarantees though. If I could guarantee, why watch the season?