NL West Wrap Up
Oh, baby, have I been waiting for this.
Since I ran through the NL East, I've been waiting for this. Go back and look at the overall records. See anything interesting? Yeah, the NL West is a big, bleeping joke.
The NL East's worst team record-wise was the Nationals, which finished dead even at 81-81.
Granted, the Braves led with a 90-72 record, not really a world-beater, but still everyone there had non-losing record. Now look at the cesspool that are the colective records of the NL West. Yeah, but it was a bunch of fun to see people freak out over the prospect that a losing team could make the playoffs.
The NL West champs were the Padres at 82-80 and everyone else had a losing record... some bigger losers than others. Is this piling on? Yup, but any collection of teams that bad deserve it.
It doesn't look much better this year. The Dodgers have upgraded with flashier players, but they should be enough of an uprgade talent-wise to take the West this season. I feel this is an accident. After picking up some of the sexier names in the offseason, the Dodgers took a decent team and made them dangerous out west.
A healthy rotation is the big question mark and Eric Gagne needs to stay the course after injuries last year.
The Padres are moderately better, but traded for age this season and I think that will hurt them. There are too many creaky knees and bad backs on that list to make San Diego a strong contender.
For the rest of them, it's a toss up as to who will be the least embarrasing. In terms of talent it seems to be the Giants, Diamondbacks and Rockies, but with the Barry Bonds circus, who knows what'll happen off the bay there. Arizona has a few good additions, but not enough to balance a lack of depth or talent overall and Colorado is Colorado. It's not their year.
It's a two team fight here and the other three will roil around in the bottom until they are dismissed in October (it helps to imagine Simon Cowell here, shooing them away with an air of disgust). On the plus side, I'll enjoy seeing how crazy the Bonds' mess gets.
(As a quick note, the NL Central preview is in the works, but I figured I'd save that for last. Plus, this one was easy, so it's done first.)
National League West
1.) Los Angeles Dodgers
2.) San Diego Padres
3.) San Francisco Giants
4.) Arizona Diamondbacks
5.) Colorado Rockies
Since I ran through the NL East, I've been waiting for this. Go back and look at the overall records. See anything interesting? Yeah, the NL West is a big, bleeping joke.
The NL East's worst team record-wise was the Nationals, which finished dead even at 81-81.
Granted, the Braves led with a 90-72 record, not really a world-beater, but still everyone there had non-losing record. Now look at the cesspool that are the colective records of the NL West. Yeah, but it was a bunch of fun to see people freak out over the prospect that a losing team could make the playoffs.
The NL West champs were the Padres at 82-80 and everyone else had a losing record... some bigger losers than others. Is this piling on? Yup, but any collection of teams that bad deserve it.
It doesn't look much better this year. The Dodgers have upgraded with flashier players, but they should be enough of an uprgade talent-wise to take the West this season. I feel this is an accident. After picking up some of the sexier names in the offseason, the Dodgers took a decent team and made them dangerous out west.
A healthy rotation is the big question mark and Eric Gagne needs to stay the course after injuries last year.
The Padres are moderately better, but traded for age this season and I think that will hurt them. There are too many creaky knees and bad backs on that list to make San Diego a strong contender.
For the rest of them, it's a toss up as to who will be the least embarrasing. In terms of talent it seems to be the Giants, Diamondbacks and Rockies, but with the Barry Bonds circus, who knows what'll happen off the bay there. Arizona has a few good additions, but not enough to balance a lack of depth or talent overall and Colorado is Colorado. It's not their year.
It's a two team fight here and the other three will roil around in the bottom until they are dismissed in October (it helps to imagine Simon Cowell here, shooing them away with an air of disgust). On the plus side, I'll enjoy seeing how crazy the Bonds' mess gets.
(As a quick note, the NL Central preview is in the works, but I figured I'd save that for last. Plus, this one was easy, so it's done first.)
National League West
1.) Los Angeles Dodgers
2.) San Diego Padres
3.) San Francisco Giants
4.) Arizona Diamondbacks
5.) Colorado Rockies
Labels: Preview-2006
posted by Matt G at
1:04 AM
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