Fight To The Finish

Welcome to the National League best, home of the two best teams in baseball (Reds and Braves), the two best rotations (Reds and Braves) and the two best bullpens (Reds and Braves), No division can match it for quality starting pitchers (10 pitchers have a legitimate shot at 20 wins), lefthanded hitters (seven of baseball's 13 best play here) or off-season improvement. "It's awesome," says Padres manager Greg Riddoch . "We're better. Everyone's better."

Everyone's bitter, too. Baseball's most contentious division the last two years will become only more intense with the off-season trades within the West of pitcher Tim Belcher ( Dodgers to Reds), reliever Randy Myers (Reds to Padres) and outfielders Bip Roberts (Padres to Reds) and Eric Davis (Reds to Dodgers ). Myers celebrated his trade to San Diego by tearing up 600 baseball cards of him in his Reds uniform, thus propelling the Padres versus Reds hate affair right up there with Padres versus Giants , Reds versus Astros and Everyone versus Dodgers .

"It's really going to be exciting," says Dodger centerfielder Brett Butler . And entertaining. The West will feature a catcher now playing second base, a shortstop with 60-error capability, a team with a 26-game road trip, Dibble and Deion, Orel and Roberts , and—together at last—Davis and Darryl. All this plus Reds and Braves, a duel that will go the distance.

1. CINCINNATI REDS

From the file of Sentences You Never Thought You'd Hear came one from Reds manager Lou Piniella this spring. After detailing his team's magnificent winter of trading, he said, "The only guy we really wanted but didn't get was Casey Candaele ."

Candaele is a nice little utility player for Houston , but we fearlessly predict that the Reds will survive without him. Cincinnati general manager Bob Quinn snagged everyone else he pursued, including pitchers Belcher, Greg Swindell and Scott Ruskin, and outfielders Roberts and Dave Martinez . Quinn called the off-season "a bit of a coup"; Piniella says his team is the most improved in baseball.

"We don't have holes," Piniella said—just before Rob Dibble , Cincy 's monster closer, was disabled with tendinitis in his right shoulder. Dibble pooh-poohed the severity of the ailment, but he most likely won't return before May 1. The Reels can weather April without him, but Dibble's 5.13 ERA in the second half of last season coupled with his poor spring is suspicious. Nevertheless, says a National League scout, "that wild man will be throwing 98 and saving a ton of games before long."

If so, the Reds have no holes. Their top four starters—Swindell, Belcher, Tom Browning and Jose Rijo—threw 882 innings last year. All have 20-win stuff. "When I saw who we got in trades, I couldn't believe it," says Rijo. "I said, 'No way, Jose.' " Equally delirious is Swindell : In his six years with the Indians , his winning percentage was .522, while the team's was .432. In 1991 he was burned by the most unearned runs (20) in baseball.

But the Reds' most important winter deal was Myers for Roberts , a lifetime .291 hitter who can play the outfield and the infield, hit leadoff and steal bases. With Roberts at the top of the lineup, No. 3 hitter Barry Larkin won't go 35 straight plate appearances without a runner in scoring position, as he did in '91.

"The [winning] attitude is back because of the trades," says Rijo. "Last year was terrible. No one wanted to come to the stadium. Players were getting here late."