The NL West is an absolutely fascinating division that could wind up looking any one of a number of ways when it’s all said and done. The Dodgers, Rockies, Diamondbacks and Giants all have their fair share of strengths and weaknesses going in, and who emerges as top dog by year’s end largely depends on who is best able to maximize those strengths and minimize those weaknesses.
Last season the Dodgers finished third in the NL West with an 82-79 mark, but the hope is that less ownership distractions and some experience for the team’s young guns will change their fortunes in 2012. In terms of pitching, Clayton Kershaw is Clayton Kershaw, but that’s not the interesting storyline to watch with this team. Rather the interesting storyline to watch is how Javy Guerra will fare. In theory Guerra should fill the closer role quite nicely after proving himself with a solid 21 saves last year in place of Jonathan Broxton. At the same time, Kenley Jansen is an absolute stud will make a strong case for playing time as well. At the moment Don Mattingly maintains that Guerra will close and that Jansen will be the set-up man, but how permanent that’ll be obviously depends on performance. Continue reading
Last year’s regular season in baseball could not have ended any more ____. Depending on what side you were on, that word could be dramatically different. It could not have been scripted better and SportsCenter could not have fawned over it any more than it did.
We heard about the beasts that may lurk in the East, and Pujols is going to eat everything in the West, but what about that Central? The Cy Young winner Justin Verlander has the Tigers looking like the favorite with a -500 betting line from bovada.com to win the division, 4/1 odds to win the pennant, and 4th best in the MLB with 8/1 to win a World Series.
With the National League defending champion St. Louis Cardinals gearing back up for another grueling season, you would think there would be more conversation about repeating. That is, unless you lose The Machine. The 
The East has been really interesting the past few seasons, drawing in the masses to watch each and every game leading up to the postseason. The division hosts 2 teams with by far the most talent, along with the highest pay rolls. The AL East, that is. The NL East is more like the division that the Phillies always win. As it stands today, the 
American League All-Star teams are going to be ridonkulous. If the best hitters were picked as the reserves, they would all be first basemen. Pujols, Fielder, Cabrera, Teixeira, Gonzalez, and sleepers like Hosmer, Konerko, and Morneau makes the decision for who’s on first the most difficult probably ever.
Coming off a solid 97-65 record in 2011, all signs seem to point to the New York Yankees repeating as the No.1 team in the AL East. Manager Joe Girardi is entering his fifth year at the helm of the most prominent team in baseball, and there is a legitimate case to be for this incarnation of the Yankees being the most potent one he’s ever had an opportunity to lead.
The National League was about to be even more of a pitcher’s league when Ryan Braun tested positive for the Jose Canseco special. With the ensuing 50-game suspension, the Brewers were left sans Braun and Prince with Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks left to drive in the missing 231 RBI’s. Yet Braun is free to flex his muscles in jubilee. He is suited up and ready to roll, the NL has its MVP back, and the Brewers have someone who can hit a home run again.
In baseball the top dogs tend to stay the top dogs, and that’s as true in 2012 as it has been at any point in the last five years. The Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers are all considered preseason favorites to take home World Series honors, but each team’s respective claim to the throne is surprisingly different.