Dodgers News: East Coast Media Picking Team to Win NL West
News is flying around about how the Los Angeles Dodgers might not win the division this season because of the moves made by the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks. However, that news doesn’t seem to have put a damper on the Washington Post’s prediction.
Today, the major newspaper site released an article saying that the Dodgers are their pick to win the NL West. It didn’t come without questions though, and one of them was a very major one regarding their starting pitching staff. But they did have them at the top still. And that counts for something.
ICYMI: Team Has 3rd Ranked Offense, per USA Today
From Barry Svrluga at the Washington Post:
Why they’ll win the division: Five words: Financial muscle and Clayton Kershaw.
That’s a real simple and concise answer when you think about it. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have the best pitcher in the game; a pitcher so dominant that the Washington Post had to note that his 2.11 ERA over the last five seasons is a full half-a-run lower than anyone else in baseball over that span. He’s good.
Their spending resources are also adequately listed. The Dodgers basically print money, and if they think they need to acquire an impact player by the time the trade deadline rolls around then they could just throw some cash into the deal to get it done. They have that ability.
But there is a major question still out there:
Most significant question: Do they have enough starting pitching to replace Greinke?
That’s the elephant in the room right now. No one knows. We’d all like to believe that the Dodgers have enough pitching to replace Cy Young Award runner-up Zack Greinke, but we simply don’t know. The team possesses depth in the rotation that most teams would be jealous of, but is it enough?
We’ll just have to sit back and let the season play out in order to see the answer to that question. With Kershaw at the helm, money in their pockets, and some youth mixed in with some veteran experience, the Dodgers certainly do seem poised for a fourth straight NL West title.
