How good will the National League be in the 2008 MLB Season?

The National League has always played second fiddle to the stronger American League.

That’s the way things have been the last couple of years, and in this 2008 MLB baseball season, nothing has changed. Why? Probably has something to do with the way this team from the AL East defeated the National League’s representative during last season’s World Series.

In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies lead the East, the Chicago Cubs lead the Central and the Arizona Diamondbacks lead the West. And although they may be regarded as the ‘’weaker conference’’ in baseball, don’t expect that to stop them from proving why people should start thinking otherwise.

The Philadelphia Phillies lead the Eastern division with a 41-29 record, also having the best road record in the National conference with 20-16. Against the St. Louis Cardinals, we all saw how impressive this Phillies team can be after the Phillies won with a whopping 20-2 blast. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the first inning, and the Phillies added nine runs in the fourth to win the opener of a three-game series Friday at Busch Stadium.

In the Central, division leader Chicago Cubs got a slight bump to end their four game winning streak with a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite that setback, the Cubs are still holding a record of 44-25 win-loss mark, still enough to hold the top spot of the group.

Lastly, the Arizona Diamondbacks won their third consecutive extra-inning game, earning a franchise record with a 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals to further solidify their spot in the NL West. Chad Tracy hit his first career walk-of home run. His homer was his third of the season and made a winner of reliever Billy Buckner, who was recalled earlier Friday from Class AAA Tucson to add depth the bullpen.

Which team will win the 2008 MLB World Series? AcesAce sportsbook has the odds.

Boston Red Sox +300

New York Yankees +400

Cleveland Indians +1,000

Los Angeles Dodgers +2,000

Want more odds? Visit Bodog for more baseball betting odds and the best betting lines on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

MLB Baseball Chicago Cubs

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 11:33 am and is filed under Baseball, MLB, MLB Playoffs, New York Mets, World Baseball Classic, World Series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.