The Los Angeles Dodgers may have won the NL West in 2014, but the San Francisco Giants won the war -- riding Madison Bumgarner's arm from the NL Wild Card game on to a third World Series title in five years.
Will the Giants break the odd-year curse and go back-to-back? Are the Dodgers primed to take over the division once again? Here's how we see the NL West shaking out
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers didn't stand still after being bounced by the Cardinals again in the 2014 MLB Playoffs, and they're a much more complete team for it. The veteran middle infield of Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick will provide leadership and performance, and the team's rotation trio of Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and Hyun-jin Ryu will once again be amongst the game's best. With an improved defense and some candidates for breakouts, this Dodgers team is set for a long October run.
2. San Francisco Giants
Losing Pablo Sandoval is tough, and so is losing Michael Morse, but the offense remains solid without them after the acquistions of Casey McGehee and Nori Aoki. While the rotation has its questions regarding age and health, San Francisco's deep and talented bullpen is enough to assuage some of those worries. The defending champs will be in the mix again, either for a division title or an NL Wild Card.
3. San Diego Padres
No one made more noise in the Hot Stove League than the Padres, and the team's acquisitions of an entirely new outfield (Upton, Myers, Kemp) and new #1 starter James Shields will lift the Padres from their 2014 doldrums. However, a porous defense and youth at key spots likely means the Padres are a year away from major relevance.
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona's got plenty of young pieces worth watching, including a firecracker of a leadoff hitter/center fielder in AJ Pollock. The problem here is the rotation. Behind Josh Collmenter and Jeremy Hellickson, there's a bunch of mismatched borderline #4 and #5 starters. That's not going to get the job done in this division.
5. Colorado Rockies
The Rockies were nine games over .500 at home in 2015. If only they could have played all 162 games a mile high at Coors Field. Colorado's 20-61 road record was by far the worst in baseball, and the team's extremely suspect rotation and potential injury risks (Tulowitzki, CarGo) mean another last place finish for a fan base becoming less and less patient with the team's front office.
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