Atlanta Braves

Last year at this time - people wanted to bury the Braves because they lost Tom Glavine and Kevin Millwood. This year many people are making the same mistake because they lost Sheffield, Lopez and Maddux. People seem to forget that last year the Braves ran away with the division and had offense to spare. Sure they lost some offense but they improved their pitching.

Consider - the Braves have 5 guys in their rotation with something to prove:

- Russ Ortiz - contract year - needs to prove he's an Ace

- Mike Hampton - needs to show that he's back as a top starter (he should improve on last year's 14-8 with a 3.84 ERA). Hampton could be the team Ace by the All-Star game.

- John Thomson - need to show that he was a victim of Arlington's launching pad

- Horacio Ramirez - needs to show that he wasn't a fluke last year with his 12 and 4 record and 4.00 ERA. (Dontrelle Willis went 14-6 last year, Brandon Webb went 10-9 last year, and highly touted Rich Harden went 5-4 with a 4.46 ERA - Ramirez must want to prove that he should have been mentioned with these other rookies last year. He was completely overlooked.)

- Paul Byrd - he probably won't start the year as the number 5 but in 2002 he had 17 wins for the Royals. He needs to show that he's back and stonger than ever after missing last year.

So - you have a driven rotation for a team that ran away with their division last year. The Phillies did add some pitching but the Braves still have a better rotation and are still the team to beat.