Three weeks to go until the regular season, but as meaningless spring training games kick off, I’ll predict how the MLB divisions will turn out this season.

National League East:

1. Philadelphia Phillies

2. Miami Marlins

3. Atlanta Braves

4. Washington Nationals

5. New York Mets

Story to watch: Everything surrounding the Miami Marlins. The franchise went all in — building a new stadium downtown, bringing in the always-eccentric manager Ozzie Guillen, and essentially doubling their payroll. They could very well be in the hunt for a playoff spot or end up as the joke of the MLB.

National League Central:

1. Cincinnati Reds

2. Saint Louis Cardinals

3. Milwaukee Brewers

4. Pittsburgh Pirates

5. Chicago Cubs

6. Houston Astros

Story to watch: The pressure surrounding Ryan Braun. The Brewers slugger was exonerated of his 50-game suspension, but doubt will continue to surround him this season as opposing fans remind him of his allegation. He’s certainly a great hitter, but it will be interesting to see how he handles playing on the road, where many eyes will wish to see him fail.

National League West:

1. Arizona Diamondbacks

2. Colorado Rockies

3. San Francisco Giants

4. Los Angeles Dodgers

5. San Diego Padres

Story to watch: This could be the most wide-open division race in the ‘Bigs’ this season. The D-backs are a good team, but they’re not head and shoulders above teams like the Rockies or the Giants. If I had to pick a surprise team to come out of nowhere in the MLB, I’d go with the Dodgers. Behind stars Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers could potentially fight for the supremacy of the West.

American League East:

1. New York Yankees

2. Boston Red Sox

3. Tampa Bay Rays

4. Toronto Blue Jays

5. Baltimore Orioles

Story to watch: The Boston Red Sox. The Sox imploded last year, and cut ties with manager Tony Francona after news leaked that pitchers were drinking beers during games they weren’t pitching. Boston management went in a completely different direction and hired the not-so-soft spoken Bobby Valentine, who was working at ESPN. Valentine has plenty of offensive firepower to work with if he can put this team back together.

American League Central:

1. Detroit Tigers

2. Cleveland Indians

3. Kansas City Royals

4. Minnesota Twins

5. Chicago White Sox

Story to watch: Can anyone challenge the Tigers? It bodes well for Detroit if their toughest competition is the usual bottom-dwellers Cleveland and Kansas City. These two clubs do have a lot of young talent; they just don’t have enough to challenge the reigning division champs who added Prince Fielder in the offseason.

American League West:

1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

2. Texas Rangers

3. Oakland Athletics

4. Seattle Mariners

Story to watch: There’s a lot to work with here. Yes, Albert Pujols joins the division. Yes, Yu Darvish arrives from Japan for the Rangers. Yes, ex-Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson signed with the rival Angels. However, I’m interested to see what plays out in Oakland, where General Manager Billy Beane traded away pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill for younger talent, but then he went and grabbed Cuban star Yoenis Cespedes and, gasp, Manny Ramirez. These seem to be a couple of strange signings for a team who just traded half of their rotation. Ultimately they’ll be fun to watch, but don’t expect them to compete with the Angels or the Rangers.

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