The main questions people are asking is will the Angels repeat?  Can Barry Bonds continue his amazing pace?  Will Sammy Sosa close in on 550 HR's by the end of 2003?  Will Tom Glavine thrive in a new environment?  Were the 2002 Twins a fluke?  Are the Expos still the Montreal Expos?  And will Philadelphia end Atlanta's 11 year reign on the NL East?
The Angels will be in for a dogfight with Oakland and Seattle in the tough AL West.  Oakland has the edge in pitching (are Hudson, Mulder and Zito an updated version of Maddox, Glavine and Smoltz of 10 years ago?).  The Angels hold the edge offensively and in the bullpen.  Seattle lacks the offensive punch and pitching depth of a couple of years ago but will be a major factor in the AL West race.

If Oakland's Big 3 pitchers hold to form and Eric Chavez and Jermaine Dye turn it up a notch at the plate, Oakland repeats in the West.  Anaheim must get quality starts out of Jarrod Washburn, Kevin Appier, Ramon Ortiz and John Lackey and if no one offensively has a down year, the Angels should contend in the West.  Seattle is a bit shaky at the plate and on the mound but has a solid veteran team.  The Mariners may not win the pennant but should still be in the hunt in late September.
Barry Bonds now stands at 613HR's, 1652 RBI's and 1922 walks.  He is 47 HR's behind his godfather, Willie Mays, and 3rd all-time.  He should pass names such as Cal Ripken, Reggie Jackson and Honus Wagner on the all-time RBI list and begin a possible assault on the top 10 RBI leaders.  And Bonds should pass Ted Williams and Babe Ruth and move into 2nd place in total base on balls, behind only (at press time) currently active Rickey Henderson.  Barry should either have 55 HR's, 145 RBI's and 140 walks or 40 HR's, 105 RBI's and 225 walks.  Mostly depends upon whether he will be pitched to or not.
Sammy Sosa will make a run at Bonds' 73 HR mark this year.  The Cubs have a beefed up pitching staff and bullpen to keep games close and one of the best managers in baseball, Dusty Baker.  If Sosa matches his career high of 66 HR's, he will move to 8th place on the all-time HR list. 
3 years ago, everyone thought Mark McGwire was the one to top Hank Aaron's 755.  Then injuries beset him.  If Bonds succumbs to injuries this year and Sosa has a career year, the Bonds-Sosa race for 756 will be similar to the Aaron-Mays race to 715 30 years ago.
Tom Glavine will not succeed in the Big Apple.  If you have noticed, any pitcher that leaves Camp Leo never finds as much success anywhere else (see:  Avery, Steve and Neagle, Denny,

not to mention numerous prospects the Braves have traded over the last 12 years).  Glavine may have to deal with something he has had little experience with in Atlanta, injuries.  Glavine will have a record somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-7 for 2003.
The 2002 Minnesota Twins were no fluke.  Their pitching isn't flashy like Oakland's but is very solid (Brad Radke, Rick Reed, Kenny Rogers, Eric Milton, Kyle Lohse and Joe Mays).  Radke and Mays should rebound from

injuries in '02.  Their bullpen was one of the best last year and remained intact.  The offense is young and hungry.  The key offensively is a breakout year by Corey Koskie and Matt LeCroy and a repeat of '02 by Torii Hunter and Jacque Jones. 
At last look, the Expos were still in Montreal, although they will be playing "home games" in Puerto Rico.  In a perfect world, the Expos could stay in Montreal but with poor fan support (a number of minor league clubs outdrew Montreal in '02), a move to Washington D.C (former home of the Washington Senators) may be best.  But Baltimore owner Peter Angelos would not approve of his fan base being diminished.  It would be a nightmare for the other 29 teams having to travel to Puerto Rico for road games but 7 years ago MLB had ideas of expanding to a 32-team format with a possible franchise in Mexico and/or Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
The most watched race in the NL will be in the East.  Philadelphia has beefed up their line-up with the additions of Jim Thome and David Bell and acquired a staff ace in Kevin Millwood.
Atlanta has shaken up their rotation after letting Glavine and Millwood go.  Atlanta has added Mike Hampton, Paul Byrd, and Russ Ortiz to go with Greg Maddux and Jason Marquis. 
Along with Millwood, Philadelphia will trot out Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla, Brett Myers and Brandon Duckworth.
Atlanta still holds an edge on the mound and in the bullpen (see more on the 2003 Braves in next issue).  At the plate, on paper, the Braves should hold a slight edge but Atlanta's offense

has been suspect for the last couple of years.  The NL East is that Braves to lose and the Phillies to win.
The Boston Red Sox will win the AL East by a nose over the NY Yankees and the surprising Orioles.
The Twins will again win the AL Central after a small challenge by the White Sox. 
The A's will again win the AL West on the last weekend of the season over the Angels.  The wild card will be a toss-up between the Yankees and Angels.
The Atlanta Braves will win the NL East after a torrid comeback by Philadelphia after the All-Star Break.
The St. Louis Cardinals will repeat in the NL Central by a slimmer margin than once thought, after a late season charge by the Cubs.
And the San Francisco Giants will win the NL West.  The wild card will be won by either the Phillies, the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Chicago Cubs.
Milestones:
Jesse Orosco is still the oldest player at 46 (in April) and may be the last player active that started his career in the 1970's (Henderson and Mike Morgan are unsigned as of March 24).
Roger Clemens will be the first player to reach the 300-win plateau since Nolan Ryan in 1990.  Clemens and Randy Johnson will become the 3rd and 4th pitchers to surpass 4000 strikeouts.
Last thought to ponder:
Not only did Moe Howard, excuse me, Bud Selig, have a contraction plan for the Twins and Expos last year, he also had a plan to contract about 8 teams.  One of the teams was... the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels.  But not one was his beloved Milwaukee Brewers, the team that has had 10 consecutive losing seasons.