Baseball preview: Same teams still strong in '97; Yankees look to repeat

The end of spring break has brought with it the end of spring training and the beginning of baseball's regular season. New to the game is interleague play (the Dodgers and Angels will have their first-ever regular-season meetings).

Not so new is Albert Belle, the human hurricane. Belle has accepted $55 million and become the highest paid player in baseball moving from the turbulent environment in Cleveland to Michael Jordan's shadow in the windy city. Belle's bat is certainly welcome in Chicago; the White Sox hope to improve on their 85-77 record of 1996.

Belle and a legion of other heavy hitters are taking aim at Roger Maris' 1961 home-run record. Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr., San Francisco's Barry Bonds and Oakland's Mark McGwire all stand a chance at hitting 62 this season.

Atlanta's Greg Maddux is still the best pitcher in baseball, but Seattle's Randy Johnson and the Dodgers' Hideo Nomo are aiming to dethrone him.

Every team in the majors is looking to dethrone the New York Yankees, who are coming off the 1996 World Series championship. The Yanks' main obstacle on their road to repeating is the loss of relief ace and World Series MVP John Wetteland, who defected to Texas.

Here now is a preview of the 1997 season, starting with the National League.

The Dodgers have the West locked up. With Nomo and Ramon Martinez on the mound and the bats of Eric Karros, Raul Mondesi and Mike Piazza, they should be able to wear down opponents.

The Colorado Rockies should be able to ride the high-altitude advantage of Coors Field to a second-place finish.

Tony Gwynn and MVP Ken Caminiti will make the San Diego Padres competitive.

The expansion Arizona Diamondbacks will take fourth place. What? They don't start until '98? Well, I guess the San Francisco Giants can't finish behind them.

The Central Division lacks a dominating team, but the St. Louis Cardinals should be a slightly better mediocre than their rivals. The Chicago Cubs will end the season in second, a few games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros.

The Pittsburgh Pirates' generic roster will earn the team no more than 70 wins. The Atlanta Braves are still the class of the NL East. Pitchers John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Maddux will give batters the blues. The Braves also have the newly acquired Kenny Lofton to give them solid lead-off hitting and the best glove in the league in center field.

The Florida Marlins figure to be in the thick of things until late September. New manager Jim Leyland and sluggers Gary Sheffield and Bobby Bonilla will lead Florida to a wild-card slot.

The Montreal Expos lack the depth and the pitching to finish any better than third. The New York Mets are on their way up with young talent, but they have a long climb ahead of them.

In the American League, the least interesting race will be in the Central Division. The Cleveland Indians will prove they don't need Belle to take first. Belle and Frank Thomas lead the White Sox and will make a lot of outfield fans happy by hitting copious balls to them, then disappoint them by missing the playoffs.

The Milwaukee Brewers will outplay the Kansas City Royals in the race for third. The worst team in baseball is the Minnesota Twins. This club boasts three over-40 core players (Jack Morris, Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield) who will prove big liabilities.

The Seattle Mariners will win the West. No other team in the AL can compare to the combined power numbers of Griffey, Alex Rodriguez, and Jay Buhner. The bat of Juan Gonzalez will lead the Texas Rangers to second place.

The Angels, sporting new uniforms and a new (Anaheim) designation, will finish ahead of the Oakland Athletics only because they had the sense to dump 18-game loser Jim Abbott.

The Yankees will again be the beast of the East, although this year will be tougher without Wetteland. With the bats of Bernie Williams and Wade Boggs, and a whole season of Cecil Fielder, New York should score so many runs that a closer is not needed.

The Baltimore Orioles will return to the playoffs, come rain, sleet or spit. Solid pitching and the duo of Brady Anderson and Cal Ripken Jr. should keep the O's nipping at the Yankees' heels all season.

The Boston Red Sox may have improved by replacing Roger Clemens (who went to Toronto), with Steve Avery, late of the Braves. Unfortunately, the Bosox have no bats worth mentioning except for slugger Mo Vaughn.

The Toronto Blue Jays should milk out enough wins to keep out of the cellar, which will once again belong to the Detroit Tigers. In the NL divisional playoffs, the Braves will beat Florida while the Dodgers make short work of St. Louis.

The AL will see the Yankees blast past Baltimore and the Mariners outlast Cleveland. The League Championship Series will be polar opposites. The Yankees will have no problem sweeping Seattle. The Dodgers and Braves will go seven before L.A. emerges.

The fatigued Dodgers' superior pitching will lead them past the over-rested Yanks For the title. Look for Piazza to be named MVP.