Really Wild Wild West

Let me tell you, if you thought the stats for the NL Central were outrageous, well these take the cake.  Again I have three teams with 100 plus wins, and two topping the 120 plus wins.  That's just ridiculous.  

Thank God we don't listen to the stats, they're just an approximate number that help us get an idea of how the season is going to end and not what the final win-loss column is going to look like.  Stats, like I said when I started this blog, help us get a reasonable image of things to come.  But they do not state what is going to happen.  I use stats to get an idea of how the season might end.  This is not written in stone.  

The Giants got a huge boost with the return of Buster Posey to the lineup.  Also, having Sergio Romo back helps them in the bullpen.  Besides that, not much has changed from the Giants roster card since last season.  What I can tell is that this year there will be a lot of help from the minors.  

Speaking of minors, the Padres are poised to make a run for the playoffs this year.  Many are already discarting them over the other four teams.  Having not appeared in the postseason for six years and dealing away home town icon Adrian Gonzalez sure doesn't help.  But the Padres have a deep farm system that can help their bats.  Pitching, on the other hand, is something they might need to consider.  Most of their pitching staff look like minor leaguers and their numbers do not reflect Major League service.  

The Dodgers are up and coming.  Ever since they were bought for a record sum of $2.1 billion by Stan Kasten and Magic Johnson this past weekend, expectations have been high.  But, just because new owners are coming in does not mean that change will happen right away.  Fans must still rely on the players at hand while GM Ned Colletti can pull of trades and deals to bring in new players and field a championship team.  

Colorado on their side have been in a constant slump.  They've already dealt Ubaldo Jimenez to Cleveland last year and, unless Carlos Gonzalez and Todd Helton can put up the same numbers they're used to, then they may no make a run for the playoffs.  Albeit they do have a deep farm system which can help them out in the long run.  Count on seeing many new faces from them this year.

Finally, the surprise that was Arizona last season will come to a stop.  Arizona has not seen much action during the offseason and might not see high numbers in the win column.  They are a solid bunch but what was a well played run into the playoffs ended in defeat, defeat that could still haunt them the day the 2012 season ends.  

Team	W	L	PCT	R	RA
SF	133	29	0.818	1133	534
SD	125	37	0.772	1357	737
LAD	116	46	0.715	1424	900
COL	90	72	0.557	1175	1047
ARZ	87	75	0.538	1024	950

Don't let the numbers trick you.  Despite the low RA by San Francisco and San Diego, this is due to the fact that most of their pitching staff is either on the DL or they have a lack of Major League experience which accounts to low Earned Runs and Runs Allowed.  

This is probably going to be the wildest of divisions.  I bet that this is probably the predicted division far less from what will actually happen.  Then again, numbes don't lie.