NL West

1. Giants

2. Rockies

3. Dodgers

4. Diamondbacks

5. Padres

This year the Giants will pull away with the West. They have solid pitching in Timmy and Matt Cain, pair that with Jonathan Sanchez and you have 3 solid starters. Zito is the Giants version of Jeff Suppan, only slightly better. The Giants offense will have to pick it up behind Sandoval’s big bat though. Should still be enough to get them ahead of the rest of the West.

The Rockies have some enough decent starting pitching to get them into second, but not get them over the top. The loss of Huston Street for any period of time has already set them back too. Troy boy will have to stay healthy to keep the pressure of Helton too. Look for them to keep it close but not close enough.

The Dodgers are going to fall back this year. Kershaw and Billingsley are both pretty solid, and Padilla is useable, but not great. Sherrill and Broxton are both great in the pen, but not enough to eat up the innings they will need to. The offense looks solid enough if they can stay healthy, which has been tough for Russell the love muscle. Matt Kemp a.k.a. Mr. Rihanna, will have another great year though.

I almost picked the Diamondbacks to finish ahead of the Dodgers, but couldn’t quite pull the trigger. If the D-backs pitchers were all healthy, I’d have them in the top two in the division. Webb and Haren are golden gods, but Webb is hurt. Jackson and Kennedy both have good potential too. Offensively they will need to help out more than the last couple years. I don’t see that happening even with the young talent they have.

The Padres will take last again, although they will improve from last year. This is a team with a lot of speed, but the hitting isn’t where it needs to be yet. I see them trading either Heath Bell or Adrian Gonzalez before the deadline. There are plenty of teams that could use either. Both will bring a good group of prospects in return. Sorry San Diego fans, this isn’t your year, but keep an eye on these kids because in a few years they will be a force to be reckoned with.