The NL West got off to a rocky start. The Giants ran away with it at the beginning. The Rockies and Dodgers were having a hard time staying afloat, and the Dbacks just embarrassed the game of baseball. The Padres have been the Padres. Things have flipped a bit with the Giants now struggling, the Dodgers in first, the Diamondbacks righting the ship a bit, and Colorado has gotten worse.
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Los Angeles Dodgers (53-43)- At first place, the Dodgers are doing good. They aren't doing great, though. Minus the insanity that is Clayton Kershaw, they have some questions on the roster. Ryu has been getting roughed up a bit recently, although he had a great start yesterday. Haren is the weak spot in the rotation. With rumors of the Dodgers pursuing David Price, it seems like that spot could be fixed soon. Matt Kemp has been awful. He started off horribly, but he has started to play like an average player. If he can step his game up, the Dodgers can really take control of the West. This is a team with few holes, and it looks like they are trying to fix the holes they do have. LA looks poised to run with the West.
Final Record Prediction: 94-68, 1st in the NL West
Final Record Prediction: 94-68, 1st in the NL West
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San Francisco Giants (51-43)- The Giants started out the season as the best team in baseball. There wasn't a hole on the roster. But now this is a team struggling to stay in contention. San Fran's may problem right now is just about everything. They haven't been hitting the ball well, and when they do there is no power behind it. The pitching has been meh at best. Matt Cain was supposed to be the ace of this staff, and he has been terrible. You have no idea what you are gonna get with Tim Lincecum, although he has been fantastic as of late. And the back end of the bullpen is a mess. It has been a merry-go-round since Sergio Romo's implosion. They need to make a big move, and that could be acquiring Ben Zobrist. He can play anywhere, so that will surely help fill a spot. If Tim Lincecum and Hudson both stay on track (especially Lincecum: Hudson has been a gem), and SF goes out and gets a bat and some bullpen help, they could overtake the Dodgers. As of now, though, there are too many questions surrounding this team.
Final Record Prediction: 88-74, 2nd in the NL West
Final Record Prediction: 88-74, 2nd in the NL West
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San Diego Padres (41-53)- Who would've thought that San Diego would be in 3rd place in July in the NL West? I think we all expected Arizona to be here, but San Diego has been the better team. This has been a horrible season for the Padres, nonetheless. They fired their GM and aren't getting much production out of their players. On top of that, they were no-hit by Tim Lincecum for the second time in a year, and they almost made it three the other day. As you can probably tell, this team is horrendous on offense. They can't handle the stick. Seth Smith is their best batter, and he is a platoon player at best. Jedd Gyorko, Chase Headley, Everth Cabrera, Yasmani Grandal, and Yonder Alonso were all young guys that the Padres were counting on. None of these guys have a batting average above .230. This is just a terrible offensive team. Their pitching has been pretty decent, and if they could hit the ball they might be right in the thick of the race, but instead they are bottom dwellers. I thought this team could be a potential dark-horse contender, but the lack of offense has prevented that from happening.
Final Record Prediction: 68-94, Last in the NL West
Final Record Prediction: 68-94, Last in the NL West
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Colorado Rockies (40-54)- The Rockies are the same as they usually are. They look good at the beginning of the season, and then they play the games. This is a good on paper team, but once the season starts, they look foolish. It is kinda sad, considering Tulo is healthy and giving them an MVP season. Part of the struggles can be attributed to CarGo's poor health. Cuddyer going down is also a big loss. The pitching is where this team really fell down. Brett Anderson is injured, as usual. De La Rosa has regressed, Franklin Morales shouldn't be a full-time starter, and just about anyone else plugged in has been bad. If they can get their pitching situation handled, they could be a respectable team. It looks like the Rockies will try to sell Tulo and CarGo, though, so it may be a long while before Colorado makes it to the playoffs again.
Final Record Prediction: 69-93, 4th in the NL West
Final Record Prediction: 69-93, 4th in the NL West
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Arizona Diamondbacks (40-55)- The Diamondbacks were just awful to start the season. Nothing went right. Besides Mark Trumbo mashing, this team had nothing to talk about. They still don't, unless you want to count the impending dismissal of GM Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson. It may take a while, but Tony La Russa will turn this team around. Heck they have started to turn themselves around after a 9-22 start. Goldschmidt is doing his thing, Montero is having a solid season, and Owings is putting together a nice rookie campaign. This team will improve over the season. Not by much, and that is due to an awful rotation, but they won't finish in last unless they sell. Not to mention Archie Bradley is likely to get his call-up sometime soon.
Final Record Prediction: 71-91, 3rd in the NL West
Final Record Prediction: 71-91, 3rd in the NL West
At the beginning of the season, I thought this was the division to watch. This division had a lot of good teams, and 2 great teams. Injuries and truly awful production have really hurt the Rockies, Padres, and Diamondbacks from making this a really interesting division. Even the Giants are starting to fallout. Barring a major move and fantastic play from San Francisco, the Dodgers will be on top of the division come October.