2012 MLB Predictions: Why Teams Will (and Will Not) Win the World Series

National League West – Arizona Diamondbacks – Justin Hunter

• Why the Diamondbacks Will Win the World Series

The Diamondbacks are like a successful college basketball team that returns all their players.  Those teams are immediately the highest ranked and have the most expectations.  I won’t go as far as to say the Diamondbacks have the highest expectations in baseball, but they probably have the highest expectations in the National League.  After a 94-win season, with their entire core returning, there’s truly no reason to think they are long-shots at winning the World Series.

Justin Upton is a MVP candidate once again now that he’s finally put all his tools together.  Ian Kennedy may not win 20 games again, but his peripheral numbers should help the club win a lot of games.  Daniel Hudson and Trevor Bauer will add some nice depth to the rotation.  Both are young, talented pitchers.  While the Diamondbacks surely have the offense to get the job done, pitching will do them well in the pitcher-friendly division of the N.L. West.

• Why the Diamondbacks Will Not Win the World Series

The first strike against Arizona is the league in which they play.  The National League, at least on paper, is inferior to the American League.  Normally that can be said offensively, but this season it can be said both offensively and from a pitching standpoint.  Obviously, the Cardinals last year proved that anyone can win as long as they get hot at the right time.

The Diamondbacks had a much better bullpen last year than they did in 2010, and that will continue this year.  However, the bullpen may be the weakest link for the team.  Starting pitching will only get them so far, the bullpen will have to maintain leads.

Finally, most teams that made the postseason last year worked to get better.  Aside from the Brewers and the Cardinals, most were successful.  The Diamondbacks, on the other hand, did not get worse, but they didn’t really get better.  They mostly stayed the same.  This fact could be cause for concern since they lost in five games in the Division Series last year.

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