I don't like to do predictions as I rarely take the time to do the analysis that's necessary and I don't want to be like those journalists who take a stab just for the sake of taking a stab. If they're wrong, you seldom hear about it and if they're right, they never quit telling you. That said, when I did the NL West Preview with other SB Nation NL West bloggers (at the time), here was my NL West assessment:
1. Padres - 90 wins
2. Dodgers - 88 wins
3. Giants - 85
4. D'backs 75
5. Rockies - 58
I think it'll be hard fought. Bonds will be back by late May. Diamondbacks could be a dark horse, but it'll take a year for the team to mesh.
So, we're at the break. How do the teams project at the halfway mark? Let's use their true halfway points to project as opposed to the current percentages. That way, I don't have to relive the terrible monster that is Houston, Texas. And also, I just have to multiply by two to get the wins that everybody's on pace for:
2. Dodgers - 88 wins
3. Giants - 85
4. D'backs 75
5. Rockies - 58
I think it'll be hard fought. Bonds will be back by late May. Diamondbacks could be a dark horse, but it'll take a year for the team to mesh.
- Padres, 44-37. 88 wins
- D-Backs, 39-42. 78 wins
- Dodgers, 38-43. 76 wins
- Giants, 34-47. 68 wins
- Rockies, 28-53. 56 wins
I figure I wasn't so far off. Everybody at the time laughed cause they thought I was being too hard on the Rockies, but they're actually performing wore than the horrors I predicted for them. The Padres are only two games off the pace I had predicted and the D-Backs actually did become the dark horse candidate of the halfway point. Bonds obviously didn't come back at the end of May which is really killing the Giants.