Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #25

For the month of March I will be doing a season preview, with a new team each day, going in alphabetical order by team so I can save the Yankees for last, because I am, in fact, that devious.

As this is a Yankees' blog, the previews for AL East teams will be more detailed than those of AL Central and AL West teams, and any AL team previews will be more detailed than NL team previews, save maybe for the Mets. Each preview will involve consideration of how much 'threat' a team is to the Yankees, for fairly obvious reasons.

Up today: The Colorado Rockies


Of all the possible opponents for the Red Sox in the World Series last October, the Rockies seem like they would have been the most unlikely--they had to win 21 of 22 games just to get there.

The Rockies have lost LaTroy Hawkins and Kaz Matsui, but they have gotten Luis Vizcaino (remember him?)

While their pitching is as strong as it's been in the Rockies' short history, their true strength is their infield: Todd Helton (remember when he was supposed to hit .400 in a season?) Marcus Giles (okay, so he's so-so), Garrett Atkins and Troy Tulowitzki, who used to idolize Jeter. Matt Holliday in the outfield is also a good reason the Rockies can be considered a postseason contender.

Threat to the Yankees: Green, Proceed Normally

We don't play the Rockies this year though they did sweep us last year. I have my doubts they'll repeat as NL champs.

Now that the Rockies were my last National League team (from hear on out it's Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, Yankees), I can have some basic NL predictions. Keep in mind, I'm about as good a fortune teller as that dude at your local Rennaisance Faire.

East:

Phillies
Braves
Mets
Marlins
Nationals.

Central:

Cubs
Brewers
Reds
Cardinals
Pirates
Astros

West:

Diamondbacks
Padres*
Rockies
Dodgers
Giants

Diamondbacks over Padres
Cubs over Phillies

Diamondbacks over Cubs.

Padres over Phillies
Diamondbacks over Cubs

Diamondbacks over Padres

(What? Sorry Chicago, but after Bartman, I don't have any faith...)

3 comments:

  1. The Rockies do have a good young team and I can see them winning the NL crown. I know for sure that whereas the last few years everyone considered the Mets the best in the NL, they are not anymore. The Rockies, Dbacks, Phillies and Cubs are better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. One problem. AZ can't play SD in the 1st round. A team can't play a team in its own division in the first round. For example, the Yanks can only play Boston in the ALCS, not the Division Series.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anon--Totally forgot about that!

    ReplyDelete