2024 NL West Preview: The Dodgers have loaded up for October

The National League Central may be wide open, but the National League West has no such delusions of grandeur. So while it’s probably going to be another long season in Denver for the Colorado Rockies, it’s very likely they’ll spend another season in the basement. If you’re a Rockies fan, you can only hope that players like defensive dynamos Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle, along with rising star Nolan Jones, continue to develop this season and become the foundation for any type of success that may occur in the future. is. Colorado.

As for now, it’s going to be a tough road. They share the same district as powerhouse Los Angeles, defending National League pennant champions in Arizona, and wild card contenders in San Diego and San Francisco. With that in mind, the Rockies will enter this season with Kyle Freeland at the top of their rotation. With all due respect to Mr. Freeland, that doesn’t exactly help him win in this department, or any other department for that matter. The Rockies don’t have enough pitchers (in the rotation or bullpen) to compete, and this is one of the things that has plagued them throughout their existence.

Trading Cal Quantrill to help the rotation probably won’t solve the problems in the pitching department. Colorado will give up a ton of points and the offense won’t be good enough to make up for it, so it looks like the Rockies will have another disorganized season. Avoiding 100 losses should be considered a success for Colorado this season.

The Rockies are considered to be the only true doormats in this division, but it’s kind of hard to understand what the San Diego Padres are doing. On the other hand, you might think a team that lost Juan Soto, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo would be busy focusing on the future. In fact, the Soto trade and the uncertainty surrounding the TV deal mean that the team’s days as one of baseball’s biggest spenders are likely over (and the baseball world’s most concerned about this). (not the only team) seemed to indicate Sun’s thinking. Diego is in a tough spot for the next few years after a disappointing 2023 season.

That being said, the Padres still have two superstars in Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Also included in the reliable supporting cast are Xander Bogaerts, Kim Ha-sung, and Jake Cronenworth. If you look at the roster, that’s not a sign of a team planning to just roll over and die. They signaled they weren’t going to just quietly disappear when they successfully traded for Dylan Cease to improve their rotation.

However, there are still many question marks surrounding their rotation. Can Joe Musgrove stay healthy? Is Yu Darvish washed up? Will Sheath be forced to shoulder the rotation alone? Is the bullpen even close to reliable? The Padres will certainly continue to push to stay where they are, but it’s clear this team is the most volatile team in the division. If all goes well, Slam Diego may still have some energy left, but there seem to be too many scenarios where the Padres are eliminated from the postseason and have another tough season.

Meanwhile, in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Giants should be much more optimistic about their chances of making the postseason than they were this time last year. I’m sure a lot of that optimism comes from the fact that their offseason actually went great compared to the free agent strikeouts they suffered before last season. They signed Matt Chapman as a hot corner man, brought in Jorge Soler for power, made a successful international splash deal by signing Lee Jung-hoo from the KBO, and signed Blake Snell’s ” to top it all off. Midway through spring training.

Photo by Andy Cuno/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images

Despite the renewed optimism heading into this season, expectations remain very muted when it comes to this team’s ceiling. Despite all the reinforcements, there is no guarantee that the offensive line will be able to consistently produce at a level even closer to that needed to compete with baseball’s top teams. The Giants’ batting lineup is solid at best, but it won’t strike fear into the hearts of pitchers. On the other hand, the new one-two punch of Logan Webb and Blake Snell is fine, but once you get past those two, the Giants don’t have much in terms of dominant pitching either. They have a very talented closer in Camilo Doval, but that’s about it when it comes to impressive relief pitching.

All in all, the Giants are a perfectly fine team and should be at least a good enough team to compete for a wild card spot. But a division title may be a bridge too far for this team. It may be frustrating for some Giants fans considering what the Giants’ rivals are trying to do in Los Angeles, but as we’ve seen with this new format, all it takes is to get into the tournament and make something happen. It’s just a matter of finding a way. That should be San Francisco’s goal and one they should be able to compete well at.

If there’s any team that can prove that they simply made it to the postseason, it’s the Arizona Diamondbacks. Against all odds, the Diamondbacks started last season’s playoffs with a five-game winning streak, dispatching both the National League Central and National League West champions in a short and dominant order. That being said, they didn’t just get lucky with the heat in October. They were pretty consistent through most of last season, only peaking at the best possible time.

Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images

Corbin Carroll is poised to have another exciting season as a Chase Field outfielder, Ketel Marte looks to build on a very solid 2023 season, and Christian Walker is slowly but He is certainly becoming one of the most reliable first basemen in baseball. Gabriel Moreno is ready to do the same at the catcher position. Their rotation is also very solid, with Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Puffert, and newcomer Eduardo Rodriguez all making up the rotation going into the season. They will also have Paul Swart and Kevin Ginkel as the cornerstones of their bullpen, which should also be very strong.

The Diamondbacks have a lot of players they like on the roster, so they should definitely be back in the postseason conversation. The main problem they have is that while they have the talent, it’s clear that this team’s ceiling doesn’t match the presumptive favorites to win the National League West. The Diamondbacks could rack up wins in the high 80s and even low 90s if things go well. That’s all well and good, and was good enough to make the postseason last year, but it pales in comparison to what’s expected of Los Angeles.

In fact, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the favorites not only to win the National League West, but also to do more damage than just winning the division. The Dodgers had a relatively quiet offseason last year, but they’ve been active this offseason, landing the biggest catch possible in the form of megastar Shohei Ohtani. Any normal team would be content with just having the face of the sport for the near and distant future, but as we all know, the Dodgers are not a normal team at all.

Los Angeles continued to display its financial strength and continued its shopping spree by signing another Japanese star named Yoshinobu Yamamoto. His first regular-season game may have been disastrous, but there’s no reason to doubt that he’ll eventually deliver for the Dodgers once he settles into the majors. But as if that wasn’t enough, the Dodgers also acquired Tyler Glasnow in a trade with the Rays and brought back team legend Clayton Kershaw for another season. The Dodgers have plenty of starting pitching options and a returning bullpen that is more than capable of recovering from wherever their starting pitchers are. Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips should continue to impress in the final innings, as they have in recent seasons.

Now, here’s the lineup. All you have to do is rattle off the name Shohei Otani. Mookie Betts. Freddie Freeman. Will Smith. Max Muncy. Even beyond the star players, this lineup is solid from top to bottom and should be a good fit for any pitching staff on a given night. There’s a reason it was easy to nickname this team “Sho-Time.” Because this is the type of lineup that makes you buy MLB.tv and enjoy this team as a neutral fan.

Photo courtesy: Master Press/Getty Images

All the hype and accolades aside, the story for the Dodgers is the same as it has been the past few seasons. Much like the Atlanta Braves, this team’s success isn’t determined by what it does between late March and September, it’s all about October. He doesn’t spend a billion dollars in one offseason just to win the division. The Dodgers are clearly looking to win another World Series, and the expectations are higher than ever. Even if everything goes according to plan and they get a chalk result from here until late in the postseason, the Dodgers are in a bind when it comes to dealing with the Braves in a potentially mouth-watering NLCS matchup. It should be full.

Still, the Dodgers have to get that far in the postseason to begin with. Also, if they are eliminated in the first round, it will be considered a major failure, and they will qualify as well if they do not make it to the World Series. The season has already gotten off to a shaky, inauspicious start due to a gambling scandal. investigation Surrounding Shohei Otani and his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. That being said, every Hollywood story requires some kind of drama, and anyone wearing Dodger blue, this is the extent of it, jeopardizing a potentially special season at Chavez Ravine. I hope it’s not the beginning of something that could be.