Ranking the teams in the National League

With pitchers and catchers reporting in about a week, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the Giants competition in 2012. I've already broke down the NL West by position but what about the NL as a whole? The Senior Circuit lost some talent this offseason. Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols left for mega contracts and future DH opportunities leaving Joey Votto (and a recovering Ryan Howard) as the only true slugging 1B in the NL. However, the NL should have a more competitive 2012 than it did last year when only 7 of the 16 teams ended the season with a winning record (by comparison, the AL had 6 of 14). I will post my predictions closer to the start of the regular season but for now, let's take a quick look at who the NL's contenders should be, who the sleepers are, and which teams don't look like they have a real shot.

CONTENDERS

Philadelphia
Atlanta
Florida
Milwaukee
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Arizona
San Francisco

SLEEPERS

Washington
Colorado
Los Angeles

WAIT FOR 2013

San Diego
Houston
New York
Pittsburgh
Chicago

I know some of these are controversial and I'll explain my selections more when I post my predictions but I see the contenders as being the Giants main competition. It's ridiculous to think that Opening Day is less than 2 months away and no one knows if there's going to be 8 teams or 10 teams vying for playoff spots and that can skew some things but for now, my contenders list are teams that I expect to be right in the mix in their division race while the sleepers could potentially compete for a wildcard spot or a division title if breaks go their way. The wait for next year gang might be putting some pieces together but it'd take a miracle for these teams to have a winning season, let alone a playoff type of drive. Every year a team comes out of nowhere which is what makes baseball (and sport in general) awesome but for now here's my power rankings for the National League in February. Keep in mind these will differ from my predictions as these rankings are based on talent on paper and how I view the teams objectively while my predictions will be more subjective.

National League Power Rankings

1. Philadelphia
2. Atlanta
3. St. Louis
4. Cincinnati
5. Arizona
6. San Francisco
7. Milwaukee
8. Florida
9. Washington
10. Colorado
11. Los Angeles
12. Chicago
13. Pittsburgh
14. San Diego
15. New York
16. Houston

Comments

The MLB Deadline 2023: What will the Giants do?

The MLB Trade Deadline is a week away. The Giants started off the 2nd half hot, going 5-0 sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates and then taking the first two games against a sneaky good Reds team in Cincinnati. Since then? A complete dumpster fire. The Giants have lost 6 in a row, finishing a 11-game road trip against mostly sub .500 teams at 5-6. Although the road trip was long and somewhat grueling, the opponents represented a soft spot in the schedule for SF, a chance to make up ground on the Los Angeles Dodgers who had a brutal portion of their schedule on the road against contenders like the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. The Dodgers went 6-3 to instead put distance between themselves and the Giants and Dbacks. The Giants are broken. They have been one of the most injured teams in baseball which has led to extensive playing time for rookies who are showing they're not quite ready for a pennant race. After a scorching 18-8 June, the Giants are currently 8-11 in July. They are s

Introduction to SF Giants Guy

Well, hello fellow Giants fans. Let me introduce myself. My "internet" name is Macster but here on this blog, you can call me SF Giants Guy. I am a die hard San Francisco Giants fan. And I have taken issue with the fact that the Giants haven't brought the bling to San Francisco in my 30 years of living. I'm sure many of you who will stumble upon this blog will take issue with the fact the Giants have never won a championship as members of the San Francisco Bay Area period. I feel your pain. This blog is to vent, scrutinize, rumor-monger, and figure out ways we're better than Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy and how we can fix our damn local 9. I will update the blog on a weekly basis (or on off-days) with my thoughts on the team. I'll include fascinating rumors about the Gigantes as well as give my ideas on improving them. Feel free to comment, to agree, to disagree, to throw out your own ideas. My hope for this thing is that we create a nice little com

What is the plan for the San Francisco Giants?

Ohtani is gone. Yamamoto is gone. Worse, they're both Dodgers for the next decade. If you missed my tongue in cheek Christmas poem about it, you can take a minute to read it here . The thing that sucks most about the two best free agents joining the Dodgers is that they chose the easy path, both joining a juggernaut that didn't necessarily need them. Instead of making baseball interesting, had even one just signed with LA and the other signing with someone else, it would have built up some fun storylines. Yamamoto and Juan Soto on the Yankees? Ohtani on the Dodgers? Potentially great theater in a World Series, much like watching Ohtani the pitcher face Trout in the WBC this past year. Or Ohtani the Dodgers hitter facing Yamamoto the Giants pitcher in one of baseball's best rivalries? It could have been a great addition to the rivalry for the foreseeable future. Instead? Yamamoto and Ohtani will team up to make baseball's best team for the past decade even better. Bah hu

SFGiantsGuy

Search This Blog