2013 NL West Predictions

The World Series champion Giants look like the team to beat in this division. The Dodgers made some moves in the offseason, but they may not be enough to catch the Giants.

1 Giants: The Giants look to back up their World Series win with another deep playoff run. Buster Posey will lead the Giants offense. The pitching staff he will manage includes Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito. If they stay healthy, they’ll be the team to beat in the West.

2 Dodgers: The Dodgers took Zack Greinke, who should help their rotation. With Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez leading the way, they should score some runs. An injury to Hanley Ramirez will keep him out for the first six weeks and leaves a huge hole at third base. Any early slippage will make it hard to catch the Giants this season.

3 Diamondbacks – The Diamondbacks will have a young rotation, all under 30 years old. Losing Justin Upton doesn’t help. They finished 81-81 in 2012 and it looks like they will finish with the same record in 2013.

4 Padres – Aside from Chase Headley (who will start the season on the disabled list), the Padres don’t have any stars on their team. Rookie phenom catcher Yasmani Grandal will miss 50 games due to a PED suspension. His pitching rotation is disappointing.

5 Rockies – The worst pitching staff of 2012 doesn’t seem to have improved much for 2013. Troy Tulowitzki is the undisputed star of the Rockies, but there isn’t much else to this team. If the pitch comes through, it’s possible they’ll battle the Padres for fourth place, but even that seems like a long shot.

The NL West may not have a 90-game winner in 2013, but its division champions could make a deep playoff run. The Giants and Dodgers are the favorites.