The NL West last season saw turmoil in Los Angeles, the Rockies fail to make an epic comeback, the Padres returned to normalcy and being the no hit all pitch team they've been, the Giants fail to return to the championship form they were in 2010, and a team with a very smart general manager, manager, and youth make it to the playoffs in the Arizona Diamondbacks. So, will this year turn out to be the same? No, and that's what makes every sport great, you never know what will happen from year to year, game to game, which makes it that much more fun every season. But, as usual, the picks will come in reverse order, with the team finishing last coming first.
San Diego Padres
All pitching, zero hitting, and a whole heckuva lot of youth is how to describe this team. Plus, the Padres traded away their ace pitcher, Mat Latos to the Reds for a bunch of prospects. San Diego will need its pitching youth to continue to pitch decently, as they play their games inside of Petco Park, one of the many west coast parks which are incredibly pitcher friendly and they'll need what little hitting they've got to play out of their minds to have any shot.
Colorado Rockies
Colorado has some pretty good young talent in Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki, but they really don't have anything else surrounding those two players. Granted, they also brought in Michael Cuddyer, who is another great leader in the clubhouse as well as a pretty good all around player who can play pretty much anywhere. But, with the rotation and all around pitching, the team doesn't have enough to compete throughout 162 games. Plus, how can I trust a team who will run 49 year old Jamie Moyer out there every fifth day?
Arizona Diamondbacks
I've just got a hunch that after last season, they're due for a disappointment. The D-Backs have excellent pieces in place as well as some pretty darn good starting pitching, but the youth with this team, I just can't trust them to win back to back division titles for the first time in a decade. They've got an insanely good outfield, with Jason Kubel, Justin Upton, Chris Young and Gerardo Parra. Then, they've also got a pretty good rotation, especially after their brilliant GM, Kevin Towers traded for Trevor Cahill. Along with having a good young starter in Josh Collmenter who came out of nowhere last season for double digit victories. This team is pretty good, and think they may prove me wrong, or I could be right and they could have a down season.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Any team which has the Cy Young award winner as well as the NL runner-up for the MVP can't be finishing below .500 again, right? Plus, the team ought to have a lot of new life now that the ownership situation is resolved with Magic Johnson's group buying the storied franchise. Then, the Dodgers also have two impending free agents in Andre Ethier and James Loney who, if they want to get paid the big bucks will want to have the best seasons of their careers. Finally, the Dodgers have the game's next prolific base stealer on hand in Dee Gordon, their starting shortstop who will lead the majors in stolen bases with more than 50. The starting rotation behind Kershaw is a little bit weaker thanks to Hiroki Kuroda leaving for New York, but it's still solid with Chad Billingsley and crafty veteran Aaron Harang on hand.
San Francisco Giants
The team is stacked with pitching from beginning to end, and if Buster Posey stays healthy, there is no reason that the team should not win the NL West. The team plays more than half of its games in pitcher friendly stadiums, and this team's starting staff is so insanely good, there is no earthly reason they shouldn't completely dominate and win plenty of games with just 3 runs.
Coming later: Final Four Preview.
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