It's that time of year again, kids! Baseball season is upon us and people are beginning to predict just how good all of the teams are going to be. I love looking at ESPN around this time of year because they gather several experts to predict the division winners as well as which teams will go to the World Series and even win the World Series.
In looking at ESPN's MLB page, I discovered that out of fifty MLB writers/contributors, fourteen (just under a third of them) have picked the Diamondbacks to be in the World Series. Granted, none of these fourteen people picked them to WIN the World Series, but that's beside the point. The point is that (and this holds true to those that didn't have the DBacks in the World Series) the Diamondbacks proved that they were a solid team last year and that they have done enough in the off season to prove that they at least belong in the discussion of good teams in the National League.
Yes, there are the Cardinals (the unsuspecting World Series Champions from last year), the Giants (what seems to be the only other team in the NL West to give Arizona a run for its money) and the Marlins, who have a new coach, a new stadium and a new name (sort of....they go by Miami Marlins now).
And yet, these fourteen experts felt the Diamondbacks have what it takes to get past all of them and into the World Series. I, too, have those thoughts and feel that despite the lack of some big name talent in the lineup, other than Chris Young or Justin Upton, the team has the experience and the flexibility to use the talent they have to score a decent amount of runs and eke some games out.
For the Diamondbacks, it's not going to be a runaway year like they had from June until the end of last season. It's going to be tougher, not only because teams in their division got stronger, but the schedule has gotten more erratic, forcing teams into flights that might become more annoying than anything else.
Whether the Diamondbacks win the World Series, or even make it for that matter, I'm going to be watching. It's my favorite time of year and since I have this space on the Internet at the moment that needs a new post each day, it's very possible that there could end up being several baseball blog posts along the way.
Let's go DBacks! Let's show those ESPN experts that they weren't mistaken.
Until tomorrow.
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