Monday, April 06, 2009

SI.com Predicts Dodgers Will Win NL West

Thank the gods of Kobol for the internet, because otherwise I wouldn't know that Sports Illustrated has picked the Dodgers to win the west. The last issue I received was the Gonzaga-covered March Madness issue dated March 30, 2009. And my conversation with the helpful people at Time Warner went like this:

Sax: Hi, I haven't received my Baseball Preview issue yet.

SI: Well, it's dated April 6, and today is only the 4th.

Sax: The date on the magazine has nothing to do with it. I've seen it on newsstands five days earlier. And my brother got his issue delivered four days ago.

SI: Some people get it earlier, some people get it later.

Sax: But since both my brother and I live in the same city, shouldn't we get the issue delivered at the same time? Or at least not with four days' difference?

SI: Sir, it's dated April 6. If you don't get it on Monday, then you can call for a replacement then.

Sax: You understand I'm likely not going to be able to blog about you.

SI: We'll take that risk.

But enough about me. SI.com highlights the same things we already know; our offense should be strong, but our pitching (both starting and relief) is pretty thin.

The young pitchers should benefit from a tight defense that's especially strong up the middle, with returning shortstop Rafael Furcal, plus Hudson and Martin. (The athletic Kemp is still a work in progress in center.) But L.A.'s main goal is to beat up teams up with its bats, and while that's an unusual plan in a division of spacious ballparks, including Dodger Stadium, it may work. With Ramirez back to help that talented quartet of young position players, the Dodgers are the class of a division that has no lineup to match theirs.

SI has the Diamondbacks second, followed by the Giants, Rockies, and Padres.

A sidebar statistic also notes the 100-point difference between Russell Martin's slugging average before and after the All-Star break. We gotta rest this guy more, Joe Torre. Be ready, Brad Ausmus.

photo: John W. McDonough/SI

10 comments:

cigarcow said...

Somewhere else on the site they show the predictions of 10 of their baseball writers, and none of them pick the Dodgers to make the World Series. Ridiculous.

Steve Sax said...

cigarcow, you're right. But nine of 13 pick the Dodgers to win the NL West (the other four picked the Diamondbacks)--including your favorite, Tom Verducci!

MR.F said...

Happy Opening Day!

Steve Sax said...

fanerman, are you as excited as I am?

Neeebs (The Original) said...

Wonder why Frank McCourt has been awfully quiet lately?

Steve Sax said...

because Jamie told him to zip his lip?

Neeebs (The Original) said...

Are there any owners in baseball less deserving than the McCourts?

QuadSevens said...

Being the NL West champs from last year, shouldn't we get to open the season at home?

No respect! Let's kick ass anyways! Go Dodgers!

Jimbo said...

I wonder what Manny could have done to deserve a knee in the balls from J. Russell.

Steve Sax said...

Q7, I always thought that opening at home alternated every other year, but I'd have to check this to make sure...