Preseason Picks Revisited: NL West
Preseason Picks Revisited
The story so far:
First off, I’d like to thank all the spammers for their excellent suggestions. Some pretty imaginative stuff, although much of it I fear is not physically possible. But really, what are we without ambition?
To the topic at hand. Here are my preseason predictions for the NL West, annotated for your amusement:
- Diamondbacks – I expected them to be on top, but I figured it would be on the strength of their talented young hitters. Instead, pitching has carried the day in Phoenix. What a bullpen…
- Padres – Not a bad showing from a team whose skipper had never managed at any level before this season.
- Dodgers – I overestimated them, although not as badly as some folks did. Injuries to Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Schmidt, and Randy Wolf really hamstrung this club. How could anyone have foreseen those guys getting hurt? Still, there isn’t much holding back the Dodgers — mainly just the front office.
- Rockies – Wow, what a season. If they’re in the NL Central, they run away with the division. If I had a say, I’d be very tempted to cast my NL Manager of the Year vote for Clint Hurdle. This is a club that had averaged 71.8 wins a year over the previous six seasons, with a high-water mark of 76 in 2006.
- Giants – At least they found a taker for Matt Morris.
I almost nailed this division. The Dodgers gave up at the end and Colorado went on a tear. Neither of those events could have been anticipated.
Tags: baseball, clint_hurdle, diamondbacks, dodgers, jason_schmidt, manager_of_the_year, mlb, nl_central, nl_manager, nl_west, nomar_garciaparra, preseason_predictions, randy_wolfRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Odds and Ends
1 opinion for Preseason Picks Revisited: NL West
Vegas Watch
Sep 29, 2007 at 11:33 am
In looking back at various preseason predictions, I think it’s interesting that everybody was so wrong about the Diamondbacks, but ended up being right (if that makes sense).
As you said, the young hitters didn’t come through, as they’re third to last in the NL in R/G. The pitching ended up carrying them- third in the NL in ERA.
That adds up to about an average team, but of course they completely outperformed their Pythag record. I doubt there has ever been a team that has ended up being this different from people’s expectations, yet finishes (potentially) right where everybody expected.
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