Tony DeMarco

The Atlanta Braves aren’t the defending National League East champions for the first time in 14 years. The New York Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2000. You can’t name a prohibitive favorite in any of the six divisions. Where have all the sure things gone?

Meanwhile, at the other end of the MLB food chain, the hopeless situations have dwindled to a minimum — a half-dozen tops — and even in places such as Kansas City and Colorado, there are realistic expectations of improvement.

What we have here is arguably the most rampant case of parity the game has seen. A situation where picking division winners is a difficult proposition — let alone trying to choose a World Series champion in late-March.

So for a change, we’re not going to. Call it a copout. Call it whatever you’d like. But it’s that wide open; that much of a slippery prognosticating slope. There just isn’t a contender out there without apparent flaws and weaknesses. Plain and simple, there is no favorite. Rather, there are several possibilities.

What about the Yankees, you ask? They sit atop the Las Vegas oddsmakers choices at 7-2, along with the Red Sox. But the Yankees’ No. 1 starter — Chien-Ming Wang — will start the season on the disabled list, their No. 2 starter — Andy Pettitte — has been sidelined by back spasms, and they’re tossing around Carl Pavano and Darrell Rasner as potential Opening Day starters. Granted, it’s not even April yet, but their pitching staff hasn’t been this unsettled in the Joe Torre era.

Daisuke Matsuzaka has been unhittable at times this spring, and maybe he will be the X factor in another Red Sox’s run at a title — a force similar to Fernandomania in the Dodgers’ run to the World Series in Fernando Valenzuela’s rookie season. But that projected powerhouse rotation has taken a hit with Jonathan Papelbon moving back (or staying put, depending on how you look at it) in the closer role, plus Mike Timlin is out and that Joel Pineiro-as-closer idea didn’t have much shelf life, did it?

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Next on the list as the National League’s odds-on favorites are the New York Mets at 8-1. But they are in a similarly precarious situation rotation-wise as the Big Apple’s other team. Oliver Perez and John Maine have eased concerns with solid springs, but they’re still counting on Orlando ‘El Duque’ Hernandez too heavily, and rookie Mike Pelfrey is in the fifth spot. And on top of Guillermo Mota’s 50-game suspension to start the season, the bullpen will have to do without key setup man Duaner Sanchez, who needs further shoulder surgery.

The Dodgers (9-1) are a legitimate NL West favorite, and Brad Penny had a very positive outing this week after an earlier shoulder scare. But there are other injury concerns — Rafael Furcal’s sprained ankle leaves him very questionable for Opening Day, Jason Repko’s severe hamstring tear forced the Elmer Dessens-for-Brady Clark trade, and Hong-Chih Kuo’s strained muscle in the back of his throwing shoulder will sideline him for a month.

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The White Sox (9-1) somehow merited the next-best odds in the AL despite three major areas of concern: 21-year-old John Danks is the fifth starter and there are health and performance issues with Mark Buerhle and Jose Contreras; the bullpen composition remains up in the air, and Scott Podsednik’s injury has left Jermaine Dye as the only certain outfield positive.

The Detroit Tigers (10-1) have come through the spring unscathed with the best record in the Grapefruit League — for what little that means. But after that World Series foldup, the pick here in the AL Central was the Cleveland Indians (13-1), who now have lost Cliff Lee for awhile.

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The news is good on Garret Anderson — he’s healthy and hitting again — and it appears as if Casey Kotchman and/or Kendry Morales could join Howie Kendrick to form a new generation of sluggers for the Angels (10-1). But less than a week from Opening Day, both Bartolo Colon and Jered Weaver are pitching in minor-league games on back fields at the Tempe Diablo complex.

Just as they were at the start of spring training, the Phillies (11-1) still have six starting pitchers and are searching for much-needed help in front of closer Tom Gordon. And Ryan Howard’s spring slump and bad reaction to it is a bit unsettling.

The Cubs at 12-1 is more a testament to the legion of Cubs bettors than a true assessment of a team that, again, will be without Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, and will have Cardinals castoff Jason Marquis and comeback candidate Wade Miller in the rotation.

The fact that the defending World Series-champion Cardinals are rated fifth in the league at 13-1 only points to lingering concerns about the rotation, Jason Isringhausen still not pitching in back-to-back games, Jim Edmonds’ slow recovery from off-season surgery and the loss of Josh Kinney.

The Minnesota Twins (18-1) appear inclined to start the season with veteran question mark Sidney Ponson, and likely Carlos Silva, rather than relying once again on their young pipeline of organization talent. At least GM Terry Ryan showed last season that he isn’t afraid to admit to a couple of mistakes and go in another direction early enough to rally for a playoff spot.

Rich Harden has been a spring strikeout machine for the A’s (20-1), but the last spot in the rotation is a bit of a question mark, underrated key contributor Mark Kotsay is out indefinitely, forcing Milton Bradley to play center and the use of a platoon in right, and we should know by now not to rely on a healthy and productive full season from Bobby Crosby. 

Almost certainly, the two pennant winners will come from this list of teams, but trying to name them now is fraught with uncertainty.

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