The most exciting division in baseball, as opposed to a few years back when they toiled in mediocrity, now all teams are equally viable as top tier clubs.Top to bottom this is a good division, with only the bottom team really missing any truly noticeable pieces.
San Diego Padres:If anyone you know says they had the Padres making the playoffs, they lied.Really, no one saw this coming.As I write this I’m waiting for them to fall out of the top spot.And I still think they will by the end of the year.But that’s how you get the “us against the world” mentality that breeds Cinderella stories like this.Adrian Gonzalez deserves this team.This rotation of journeymen and young guns deserves the success.But the feel good story can’t go on, right?
San Francisco Giants:Matt Cain.Tim Lincecum.Barry Zito being a respectable number three.Aubrey Huff turning it on back like he used to with the Rays.And all this success with Kung Fu Panda slumping.The Giants are doing all they can to keep in this race, and they’ll probably be able to grab a playoff spot, be it in a wildcard showdown with their own division and the folks out east or a final over the hump push to the division crown.
Los Angeles Dodgers:This was a power hitting lineup that short circuited.Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsly need to stay strong to make the necessary run at the playoffs.This powerful outfield has been struggling a tremendous amount, and injuries to Manny Ramirez certainly don’t help that cause.Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and James Loney are as solid a middle as anywhere in the league.If the pitching can stay strong til Manny gets back, they’ll make a nice playoff run.
ColoradoRockies:Ubaldo Jimenez was all-time good.Like, absolute incredible for-the-ages good.And then the all-star break happened.The early year Dark Horse Cy Young emerged as one of the best pitchers in baseball.But that sort of dominance, with modern day players and scouting reports, isn’t going to last a season.The Rockies are a slightly above average team with a great foundation to remain competitive over many seasons.But with the Dodgers doing so well while struggling and the unbelievable year in San Diego, Colorado looks like tough luck losers.Carlos Gonzalez and Ian Stewart are both young foundation players who will be the envy of the league a few years from now, but just not this season.
Arizona Diamondbacks: This pitching staff has the worst ERA in the bigs, and nowhere near the offense to make up for that.Dontrelle Willis proved he’s still a bust after that one year in Florida, the bullpen blows leads like they’re paid by the earned run, and Dan Haren has had a year to forget.Apart from using for former member of Oakland's "big 3" as trade bait, the desert is out of good story lines until football season.
Philadelphia has the best team in the league, hands down.And it’s not even that close.An absolutely lethal head of the rotation with Doc Halladay and Cole Hamels, backed up by a stud lineup.It’s almost unfair.Yet despite this, the division will probably still produce the wild card team, speaking to the strength of…
The Braves starting pitching.A top four in the rotation of Timmy Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, and Derek Lowe is enough to keep them competitive in every game.That, and the fact that Bobby Cox is in the last year of his contract makes them a sympathetic playoff team.Sadly, sympathy won’t get them past the Phillies, and they’re still less pathetic than…
Your New York Mets.This team has everything on paper.Again.But the injury bug hasn’t looked too kindly on this team in awhile.Will David Wright return to David Wright of old?Will Carlos Beltran live up to his potential/ contract?Will Jeff Francoeur remember how to check a swing?Will Johan Santana be able to start 160+ games?The pieces are there, but the results will be puzzling.
The fish look to be in a very similar spot to their same state AL East pals.Decent starting pitching, good young talent, and a division that is nearly impossible to win based on the level of competition surrounding them.Any other division and they compete for the title.Here, they’ll be lucky to finish outside of the basement.
Well, maybe not that lucky.The Nationals aren’t a good team.Young players to build around like Stephen Strasburg make this a fun team to watch, but they won’t contend for a playoff spot.
NL Central
This division is loaded with power hitters to the point where it’s almost not fair.So ranking them based on pure slugging seems the right way to go.And if we’re going to do that, can anyone bet against Albert Pujols?Me thinks not.
Derek Lee comes sliding into second as far as pop at first goes.Last season he put up arguably his best stats since the 2005 year when he threatened for a triple crown until August.The Cubbies aren’t particularly strong, but they’re not lacking much.Which should be enough to finish just above .500 and place in second, just ahead of…
Cincinnati.A healthy Scott Rolen makes this a solid team in the infield.And that Joey Votto kid is an all-star in the making.But there’s not enough on both sides of the ball yet.
Milwaukee will be an entertaining team to watch so long as Prince and Ryan Braun keep the ball moving, but you know your pitching is week when the number one on your roster is Yovani Gallardo.
Houston and Pittsburgh tie here as teams going in opposite directions.Houston is bottoming out, with the careers of Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman fading away.Meanwhile, Pitt looks to the future with Andrew McCutchen, but that future is at least two or three years out.
NL West
This entire division is up for grabs, with four teams legitimately talented enough to make noise come playoff time.But the one team that would be the most threatening in October baseball?The Giants.Does anyone want to see Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain?That’s what I thought.
The Dodgers offer the most serious threat to the Giants hopes of a division crown, with a very different approach to victory.As good as San Fran is at pitching, the cluster of Andre Ethier, Manny, and this soon to be perennial all-star Matt Kemp are just as good at hitting, if not better.
Colorado has Ubaldo Jiminez, who could quickly become a dark horse Cy Young candidate by the summer.If this lineup stays healthy, they could threaten the division too.
Just as Arizona can.Standing toe to toe with Timmay and Cain in San Fran are Dan Haren and Brandon Webb in the desert.A healthy return for Webb suddenly makes this lackluster team a force.
Sadly, San Diego has no such magic.Apart from Adrian Gonzalez, this team is Triple A with very little hope.
So here’s to another fantastic season of baseball, of sinking line drives, sliders in the dirt, and dominating closers.Cheers.
