NL West Preview: Will the Dodgers Win it Again?

The Final Four odds are set and while the sports betting world waits for the games to be played, they are also looking at Major League Baseball and an NL West preview.

 An online sportsbook look back at the 2009 season will give insight into how the 2010 season will play out in the NL West. The Dodgers were the toast of MLB when the season started last year, but by the end of the season that were scraping with the Colorado Rockies for the division and barely won the regular season pennant.

Colorado Rockies (Odds to win division: 10/1)

NHL betting in the Denver, Colorado area has the Colorado Avalanche doing well in the upcoming NHL playoffs, and the city should be equally excited by their baseball team’s prospects for the coming year.

 The Rockies live by hitting home runs in the thin air of the Mile High City, and with power hitters like Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki the Rockies should have no problem putting up solid offensive numbers.

 On the mound the Rockies’ starting rotation is anchored by ace Ubaldo Jimenez and up-and-coming future ace Jorge de la Rosa. The only weak spot in the Rockies defense is their bullpen. They do not have a reliable closer and their long relievers gave up a lot of home runs last season. But if the Rockies can fix the bullpen then they should win the division.

Arizona Diamondbacks (Odds to win division: 35/1)

Why pick the Diamondbacks to finish second and possibly take the NL wild card? In the off-season the Diamondbacks strengthened their starting rotation by trading Max Scherzer to Detroit for Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennady.  Those two young starters have instantly made the Diamondbacks a stronger team and gave depth at the most important position in baseball.

 In the bullpen the Diamondbacks have veteran Chad Qualls, but the D’backs know that Qualls is not the guy for the regular season. Look for the team to hand the closing job to possibly someone like Clay Zavada by the time the season starts.

San Francisco Giants (Odds to win division: 15/1)

The Giants and the Diamondbacks will be fighting it out all season for that NL wild card, but in the end it will be the Giants lack of depth in the bullpen that will cost them. Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito and Matt Cain are more than enough of a starting rotation to win a lot of games for the Giants. But with no real middle relief the same thing will happen in 2010 that happened in 2009; the Giants starters will get tired by the end of the season.

Los Angeles Dodgers (Odds to win division: 9/2)

Do not look for a repeat of 2009 from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The problems with the Dodgers were glaring when Manny Ramirez was out last season. Without Manny the team cannot generate offense. When the team cannot generate offense their weak starting pitching comes through and the Dodgers lose games.

 The Dodgers have no money to sign better pitching, and they have no money to bring in more power to help out Manny. Their bullpen is suspect and their defense is shaky. Their fast start last year was due to some young arms that were throwing heat and Manny driving in runs. Once the rest of the league figured out the arms, and Manny was suspended or hurt, the Dodgers were vulnerable.

San Diego Padres (Odds to win division: 100/1)

The odds for the Padres to win the division might as well be 1000/1 because they are not going to get anywhere close to the top this season. They are still rebuilding their pitching staff, and have very little power to put runs on the board.