This baseball season is less than one week away and I am very excited. All of the talk surrounds 5 teams positively and 3 teams negatively. The positive 5 are the Yankees, Phillies, Cardinal, Red Sox, and Brewers. These teams have tons of talent and have the best shot at contending for a title. The three negative teams may surprise some but their fans understand. They are the Mets, Cubs, and Angels. The Mets are on this list because they start the season minus key players and the pitchers from last season that were hurt have not come back to for so far in the spring. The Cubs have more talent than the Brewers and the Cards and because of internal strife, most people feel that that they won't do much this season. The Angels got rid of three very important cogs to their recent domination in the off-season. They also got rid of players last season and got older instead of better. They have lost Lackey, Escobar, Vlad, Kotchman, and K-rod over the last two seasons. Hard to replace these guys... Today i will start with the previews of both western divisions and you will see why they are not on the big 5 list.
The National League West has the most questions of any of the divisions in baseball this year. You have four teams that have more players injured or in new places that you need a thomas guide to find where they are playing. The best team in the division is the Dodgers. The Dodgers have a great nucleus of players that have been together since the minor leagues. Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin and James Loney have been playing together it seems forever. If Manny comes back and play like we all know he can the Dodgers will be tough to be. The Pitching is the weakness and if Vincente Padilla is your opening day starter, you got trouble. He has a world of talent but he loses focus too easily. The bullpen is solid but the starting pitching is what will either make them or break them.
The San Francisco Giants have two problems. They play way too many close games and they do not score a lot of runs. They can flat out pitch. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are beasts but the rest of the staff is old and unproven. Barry Zito has not delivered. Their bullpen last year was overused and this year I don't not see anything changing.
The Colorado Rockies have great young starting pitching and very little else. They have lost quality players but can stay in games with the pitching of Cook and De Los Santos. Todd Helton is continuing his march towards 3000 hits so he and Troy Tulo.. have to lead this team towards a title. They have a lot of promise in their outfield. This team always seems to suffer a bad injury and then they are done for a while, then they get hot and contend for the remainder of the season. Should be fun...
The Arizona Diamondbacks might be the scariest team in this division. If Brandon Webb is back to form and Edwin Jackson and Dan Haren pitch like they can, this team will be in every game. They have a team of gamers!!! They will grind out victories and if you are not careful one day you look up and they are in the playoffs. They need big years from Conner Jackson, Scott Drew and others. They are a year away.
The Padres have to pray and take advantage of getting the number 1 0r 2 pick in the draft and rebuild. The built this beautiful stadium and have one great player in Adrian Gonzales and the rest should be in the minor leagues. Good luck Padre fans. I don't have a clue what to say about you.
In the American League west, offense will reign supreme, despite the Mariners deep pitching staff. The Angels may have lost a lot of talent and that has evened the playing field, but they still have more than the rest of the division. The pitchers Weaver and Saunders can match up with anyone. Adding Kazmir last season gives them an extra number 1 arm.. He needs to stay healthy. The offense is led by Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu. The stud is Kendry Morales. If he puts up numbers like he did last season, the angels will be fine. The bullpen gets Scot Shields back and Brian Fuentes is awesome. They will be challenged but they will some how get it done. I just don't understand the moves they have made. I know their farm system is good so I guess they are expecting Howie Kendrick to be a star. We shall see..
The Seattle Mariners have Cliff Lee and King Felix Hernandez. They will be a pain to every team they face. They have Ichiro who can still rake, but have a lot of young players trying to find their way. I want to see if Griffey has something left in his bat.Chone Figgins leaves the Angels and joins this team. Milton Bradley yikes..
The Texas Rangers improved their pitching last year and look forward to being better this year. They added Vlad and with him, Nelson Cruz, Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, and Josh Hamilton, they may strike out a bunch but when put the ball in play, look out. They are going to be a nightmare to pitch to. Bring your abacus and your best summer hat to watch them play...
The Oakland A's only added CoCo Crisp to their team this off season. nuff said..
My predictions:
Dodgers Angels
Giants Rangers
Rockies Mariners
Diamondbacks A's
Padres
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