Scouting Reports

How We Rank Them

1. New York Yankees
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Oakland Athletics
4. St. Louis Cardinals
5. Cleveland Indians
6. San Francisco Giants
7. Chicago White Sox
8. Houston Astros
9. New York Mets
10. Boston Red Sox
11. Los Angeles Dodgers
12. Colorado Rockies
13. Cincinnati Reds
14. Arizona Diamondbacks
15. Toronto Blue Jays
16. Seattle Mariners
17. Florida Marlins
18. Milwaukee Brewers
19. Kansas City Royals
20. Texas Rangers
21. Pittsburgh Pirates
22. Detroit Tigers
23. Anaheim Angels
24. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
25. Philadelphia Phillies
26. Chicago Cubs
27. Montreal Expos
28. Minnesota Twins
29. Baltimore Orioles
30. San Diego Padres

How They'll Finish
overall rank in parentheses

AMERICAN LEAGUE

[EAST]
1. Yankees (1)
2. Red Sox (10)
3. Blue Jays (15)
4. Devil Rays (24)
5. Orioles (29)

[CENTRAL]
1. Indians (5)
2. White Sox* (7)
3. Royals (19)
4. Tigers (22)
5. Twins (28)

[WEST]
1. Athletics (3)
2. Mariners (16)
3. Rangers (20)
4. Angels (23)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

[EAST]
1. Braves (2)
2. Mets (9)
3. Marlins (17)
4. Phillies (25)
5. Expos (27)

[CENTRAL]
1. Cardinals (4)
2. Astros* (8)
3. Reds (13)
4. Brewers (18)
5. Pirates (21)
6. Cubs (26)

[WEST]
1. Giants (6)
2. Dodgers (11)
3. Rockies (12)
4. Diamondbacks (14)
5. Padres (30)

*wild-card team

Playoff Predictions

American League Division Series
Yankees over White Sox
Athletics over Indians

National League Division Series
Braves over Astros
Cardinals over Giants

American League Championship Series
Yankees over Athletics

National League Championship Series
Cardinals over Braves

World Series
Yankees over Cardinals

For scores, team schedules, complete rosters and career stats
on every player, plus the latest news and analysis from Tom
Verducci and Stephen Cannella, go to cnnsi.com/baseball.

COLOR PHOTO: COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY NITIN VADUKUL COVER Baseball Preview 2001 Why Fight It? The Yankees will win again DEREK JETER Four rings and counting

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF CARLICK When West meets West, Ramon Hernandez's A's and Greg Colbrunn's D-Backs will knock heads three times.